The Federal Government has said the economic challenges currently facing the country are surmountable without it having to take any loan from the International Monetary Fund.
The Minister of Finance, Mr Kemi Adeosun, stated this while speaking at the ongoing Spring Meetings of the IMF-World Bank in Washington DC, United States of America.
A statement from her Media Adviser, Festus Akanbi, said the minister stated this while responding to questions about why the government had refused to apply for IMF loans.
The minister said Nigeria was adapting to its new realities by implementing fiscal policies to steer the country back on track for stable growth with a diversified economy.
She noted that these policies and investment would enable Nigeria to show positive growth by 2017.
She said, “Nigeria is not sick and even if we are, we have our own local remedy. The real vulnerability in the Nigerian economy is overdependence on a single source of revenue — oil.
“We have resolved to build resilience into the country’s economy to hedge against future oil shocks. This is because dependence on oil brings about vulnerability and laziness.
“So we are doing a combination of things to diversify our economy, with revenue mobilisation to enable sufficient investment in developing the non-oil sectors.
“We have great opportunities to reset the Nigerian economy and ensure that as we go forward, growth will be in a sustainable manner so that we won’t be vulnerable to oil price fluctuations.”
With a truly diversified economy, the minister said, the government would have created opportunities for wealth creation for the people.
“The compelling business case in Nigeria is that the fundamentals remain very strong a teeming young, growing population, rich in resources and with a government determined to finally get it right.
“The great thing is that long-term investors recognise this and understand the difference between short-term and long-term issues and the case for Nigeria persuades one to plan for the longer term opportunities,” she added.
