Nigerians economy is technically in recession, but, there is no need to panic because it will be short, this was the words of Finance Minister Mrs Kemi Adeosun, while addressing Senators in plenary and briefing them on measures adopted to get the economy out of the woods.
She said the Federal Government had released N247.9 billion in the last two months for capital expenditure. She said N60 billion would be released for capital vote in the next few weeks, adding that N74 billion went to the Works Ministry. All the releases, Mrs. Adeosun said, had been fully cash-backed.
The Minister, however, told the Senators that the recession would be a very short one because the government had measures to reverse the trend. She said Nigerians should not dwell on the recession but rather on where the country is going through the measures being taken to save the economy.
She also said the Federal Government will start borrowing abroad in the third quarter, this is coming barely one week after the Central Bank of Nigeria floated the naira completely on the official interbank market. The Federal Government has said it is planning to borrow up to $10bn, with about half of that coming from foreign sources, to help make up a budget shortfall exacerbated by a slump in oil prices.
Adeosun met international investors in June on a non-deal roadshow in London as the government explored fund-raising options to finance a record budget deficit. The CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele; and CBN Deputy Governor, Sarah Alade, met investors in the United States and London last week to entice them to buy naira assets.
