The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, and his Finance Ministry counterpart, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, yesterday, in Washington DC, assured foreign investors that with elections over, Nigeria is set for faster growth.
At a high level business meeting with US business community held under the auspices of the Corporate Council for Africa , Udoma told investors that Nigeria is on the path of diversified inclusive growth and President Muhammadu Buhari in his second term is focused on consolidation and further expansion of the investor-friendly policies of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan .
CCA is at the forefront of strengthening and facilitating the commercial relationship between the United States and Africa. “Oil prices are stable and the convergence in foreign exchange windows has helped in reducing inflation and rebuilding external buffers. 2017 was better than 2016, just as 2018 was better than 2017, and 2019 will be even better,” he assured investors.
While indicating that the economy is projected to grow by 3.01 per cent in 2019 with single digit inflation at 9.98 per cent, the Minister said Nigeria is focused on economy diversification in partnership with the private sector, explaining that with the development of Special Economic Zones, the intention was to exploit comparative advantages of the six geo-political zones and the 36 states by establishing six Industrial Parks and 109 Special Production and Processing Centres.
A developing country like Nigeria should be growing at least double that to be impressive.