The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has reported that Nigeria’s economic growth was too slow and still exposed to vulnerabilities.
IMF Managing Director, Ms. Kristalina Georgieva, said at a press briefing at the on-going 2019 World Bank/IMF meetings in Washington DC, USA.
“What we see, however, is that economic recovery remains still too slow to reduce vulnerabilities, and most importantly, to reduce poverty in the country.”
She said Nigerian would need a number of policy tools to recalibrate the economy in a manner that would reduce poverty and drive growth.
“What we experience is some good thoughts around shaking up economic policy now that a government is being constituted in Nigeria. We’ve been quite consistent to talk about three issues in Nigeria that need to be tackled.
“As you know, the tax collection levels in Nigeria leave quite a lot of room for improvement, and without strengthening the fiscal position of the government, the expenditure side, of course, would suffer.
“The recommendations that we always give is that countries should aim for 15 per cent of GDP in terms of collection to funds the responsibilities of the government, and in Nigeria this is still quite far. If I’m not wrong, we are still in the single-digit territory.”
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