Federal Government Blames Low Export Revenue, Plans To Further Diversify Economy

The federal government has blamed the low export revenue for Nigeria's foreign exchange scarcity, stressing that it will further diversify the economy.

Finance Minister Wale Edun said the government is already planning to diversify the economy while expressing his worry about foreign exchange income.

"An important part of that is diversification," he said at the 40th annual conference of the Chartered Institute of Directors in Abuja on Thursday, Punch reported. "The economy is diversified as other sectors are increasingly contributing to the economy. But what is not diversified is our source of foreign exchange revenue."

"So, from all those sectors, whether telecommunications, transport or manufacturing, there are not enough foreign exchange earnings or enough savings to give us what we need, which is the positive balance of trade," he added.

Edun noted that the President Tinubu-led administration is ready to provide a stable economy, with low inflation, a stable exchange rate, increasing GDP and a reasonable interest rate so that Nigerians can take loans and invest in productive activities.

The minister explained that to ensure a stable economy, it is vital for a country to increase its export income more than the import expenditure. With this, Nigeria will be able to stabilize its currency value.

As far as attracting investments in the country is concerned, the minister said the government does not have any funding and international funding is also "not available."

"They are not really interested and they have inflation to fight in the Western world, so they have to keep interest high, tighten the money supply, and cannot not provide any kind of development financing at the level we need," he said. "When we talk about investment and attracting investment into the economy, we are not only talking about domestic investors but about foreign direct investments, private investment, and much more than what the multilateral organizations may have to offer."

Olusegun Olutoyin Aganga, former minister of finance, budget and national planning, was also present at the event.

Aganga pointed out that the economy should be a top priority of any government, adding elections are won and lost because of the economy in some countries.

"Our economy today is relatively small. It is not growing fast enough and is not inclusive," he said. "It has all the features of a weak economy; import dependent, weak and unstable macroeconomic environment, exports of primary products without value addition, among others."

Earlier this week, Nigeria's National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu blamed former President Muhammadu Buhari's administration for making the country "bankrupt" and leaving it with "no money."