The Federal Government has said that it would require an investment of at least $100 billion annually to achieve a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita of over $33,000 million by 2050.
The Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Abubakar Bagudu said this at the management retreat of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) in Abuja, regretting that Nigeria is nowhere near the target.
He noted, “Our Agenda 2050, a statement of our national aspiration, requires that we invest at least $100 billion annually to achieve a GDP per capita of $33,000 or more by 2050. We are nowhere near that”.
According to him, the current financing level is smaller than that but explained that President Bola Tinubu’s administration had undertaken bold and courageous economic reforms to boost its revenue.
“However, we still need to be where we should be; we are not near the kind of flows we expect,” the minister noted, citing the $20 billion federal budget size, which he said, was too small compared with other countries like Brazil and Indonesia, which have similar population sizes and have $750 billion and $210 billion budgets, respectively.
The minister explained that Nigeria needs a sound financial system to attract domestic and foreign investments to finance its development plan.
“The plan is to use private sector or capital market money to fund the plan. Because of that, we need confidence, integrity, and soundness in our financial system.
“The rating agencies could be more generous with us, maybe not only with us but with all countries,” Bagudu said.
He stated that this was the role of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), which, he said, had performed creditably but needed to communicate its activities more effectively for the public to acknowledge.
“Our credit rating should improve. We have taken measures similar to those in countries that have achieved significant increases in credit ratings. We have established and committed institutions, particularly the NFIU, and should benefit from them.
“Communication matters. So, we reinforce and punish wrongdoing while drawing attention to our great work to enhance the integrity and soundness of our financial assistance” he noted in a statement.
For the government to achieve these lofty plans, the country must develop a sound financial system with integrity, the minister added. READ ALSO:
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