Friday, February 16, 2018 6.00PM / Proshare WebTV 

Taxes and Jobs are two key to stimulating inclusive growth in Nigeria. The Statistician-General of the Federation Dr. Yemi Kale made this assertion at the 2018 BusinessDay economic outlook forum in Lagos, which focused on the theme “Navigating from recovery to Growth”. 

Dr. Kale shared from his presentation that two-thirds of the world have experienced growth in recent times, while capital investments in developing economies have been gaining momentum. 

Giving an economic overview, Kale noted that at the moment 60% of the economy depends on crude oil. This according to him explained the narrative that “Oil took Nigeria into recession and Oil was largely responsible for taking it out of recession”. 

He, however, highlighted the fact that the Agriculture sectors endured and remained resilient, even when the economy experienced recession. 

Speaking to stakeholders in the Nigerian economic space, Dr. Kale harped on inclusive economic growth which was vital for the nation. 

On economic restructuring, he stressed that it was a sustainable process which cannot be totally achieved in two years. 

With the understanding that 2018 is a pre-election year in the country, the Director-General of the National Bureau of Statistics said Domestic investors slow down the pace of investments during an election cycle. 

Looking at the Inflation rate which is currently 15.1%, the NBS boss said Inflation still persists, especially food inflation but is slowing down, albeit slowly. 

For 2018, he gave the outlook of policies to watch, which include; from the fiscal space-VAIDs, improving tax administration, the planned increase in rates and steps taken to lower debt servicing costs and lengthen maturities. 

From the monetary side, he said key issues to follow will be Tight policy stance(to further reduce inflation and anchor inflation expectations), More efficient and directed sectoral report through e.g Anchor Borrowers Program, Exchange rate flexibility and the Move towards a unified and market-based exchange rate. 

At the Global level, Dr. Kale highlighted that the external risks are interest rate hikes in the US, which will affect capital inflows.

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