is the minister of finance, budget and national planning of Nigeria, Africa's largest economy. Lately, she has had to help her country navigate the global economic crisis triggered by the fallouts from the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. In this interview with, Ms. Ahmed says effective fiscal measures are helping Nigeria weather the storms.
Fortunately, we are able to sustain positive macroeconomic indicators and continue growing the economy. We're still feeling the impact of inflation, however, because it is trending upward. We created a public works programme that enabled us to employ a large number of youth in public work projects, such as road and housing construction. We also developed a programme that helped farmers sustain their crop production.
We created the Strategic Revenue Growth Initiative . This is a suite of initiatives designed to enhance our capacity, identify new revenue streams, expand our revenue base and block revenue leakages. The SRGI has been quite successful. We have been systematically working to achieve key targets. Between 1999 and 2021, local and federal government borrowings jumped from $3.5 trillion to $1.9 trillion. You reportedly said that at $1.9 trillion, the cost of debt servicing has surpassed government revenue of $1.6 trillion. How does Nigeria get out of this debt trap?
Help who🤣?