Press zooms in on position of IMF on Nigeria’s monetary policy, others

APA– Lagos The criticism of Nigeria’ s monetary policy by the International Monetary Fund and the take-off of cross-border trading by seven African Exchanges to begin to integrate the African capital market and free movement of investments in the region through the platform are some of the leading stories in Nigerian newspapers on Tuesday.

APA – Lagos (Nigeria) The criticism of Nigeria’s monetary policy by the International Monetary Fund and the take-off of cross-border trading by seven African Exchanges to begin to integrate the African capital market and free movement of investments in the region through the platform are some of the leading stories in Nigerian newspapers on Tuesday.

The Punch reports that the International Monetary Fund has faulted the Central Bank of Nigeria’s monetary policy, saying that it has been ineffective in the fight against rising inflation.

The IMF in its report tagged ‘How Fiscal Restraint Can Help Fight Inflation’ urged the Central Bank of Nigeria to soft-pedal on increasing monetary policy rate.

It advised the Federal Government to tighten up its fiscal policy through investments in critical sectors capable of putting the economy on a better path in the long-term.

“While monetary policy has the tools to subdue inflation, fiscal policy can put the economy on a sounder long-term footing through investment in infrastructure, health care, and education; fair distribution of incomes and opportunities through an equitable tax and transfer system; and provision of basic public services.

“The overall fiscal balance, however, affects the demand for goods and services, and inflationary pressures

“A smaller deficit cools aggregate demand and inflation, so the central bank doesn’t need to raise rates as much.

“Moreover, with global financial conditions constraining budgets, and public debt ratios above pre-pandemic levels, reducing deficits also addresses debt vulnerabilities,” the IMF said.

The newspaper says that the Nigerian Exchange Limited has joined six others in the African Exchanges Linkage Project to begin cross-border trading, to integrate the African capital market and free movement of investments in the region through the AELP link platform.

In a statement made available to The PUNCH on Monday, the Exchange said, “The go-live happened when the platform was officially switched on at 0000 UTC.

“The interconnectivity platform enables the trading of exchange-listed securities across seven participating securities exchanges.”

The AELP exchanges are the Casablanca Stock Exchange, the Egyptian Exchange, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Nairobi Securities Exchange, the Nigerian Exchange, the Stock Exchange of Mauritius, and Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières.

The President, African Securities Exchanges Association, Dr Edoh Amenounve, said, “The go-live today of the AELP Link is a great milestone towards achieving ASEA’s mission to engage African capital market ecosystems in order to foster capital mobilisation, promote sustainability, and enhance financial inclusion for the benefit of Africa’s economic development.”

The Guardian reports that as part of efforts to fully diversify the nation’s economy, the Federal Government said it is committed to taking bold steps to increase its non-oil revenues to as much as $200 billion in the next five years to meet its foreign exchange demands.

Steps like granting incentives to exporters, sensitisation, provision of boarder laboratories as well as connecting Nigerian businesses to their foreign counterparts among others are being explored, it revealed.

Already, the government realised at least $2.5 billion in the first half of 2022 from the sector, a feat it said needed to be expanded through other efforts.

The Executive Director, Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Dr. Ezra Yakusak, disclosed this at the weekend during a media briefing in preparation for the NEPC Export Week slated for November 21-26 in Abuja.

Yakusak said: “Although it is unfortunate that some exports from Nigeria have been rejected at some point or the other, the government is working hard to block loopholes on reported cases of high levels of pesticides associated with our products as well as issues of value addition and poor packaging.”

The NEPC Chief Executive explained that the export week is a continuation of engagement with critical stakeholders and discerning members of the public aimed at keeping the ‘Export 4Survival’ campaign in the front burner of national discussion.

“We envisage that the export week will provide a path for business and sector-led activities to thrive as well as help entrepreneurs, particularly the small and medium enterprises (SMES) look out for new opportunities in the sector,” he said, adding that it is vital for these businesses to have the support and information they need to become successful.

He noted: “One of the key objectives of the Export Week is to highlight the significance of export to the country’s economy by strengthening and deepening interactions and partnerships with relevant stakeholders in the public and private sector.”

The newspaper says that two Boko Haram commanders and 49 other terrorists have surrendered to the Nigerian Army in Borno State.

The commanders, Ba’a Usman and Alhaji Ari, laid down their arms on November 20, 2022 to troops of Operation Hadin Kai (OPHK) patrolling Damboa Local Council.

A counter-insurgency expert in the Lake Chad region, Zagazola Makama, disclosed in Maiduguri, yesterday: “Preliminary investigation of the military revealed that the insurgents came out from Sambisa forest. The terrorists had been hiding and waging campaigns of terror from the forest.”

According to him, over 90,000 terrorists and their families in the North East have already surrendered to the Army.

Military sources in Maiduguri said: “The sustained onslaught on the terrorists with kinetic and non-kinetic approaches led them to massively surrender. The state government has already established four camps for their rehabilitation and integration into communities.”

In a related development, Kaduna State Police Command has said security operatives have rescued 76 kidnap victims in Giwa Local Council and inflicted injuries on their captors as they flee from heavy fire from the police.

The police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mohammed Jalige, said the victims were passengers from Sabon Birni Local Council of Sokoto State travelling to different destinations.

The Guardian also reports that as part of solutions for Nigeria to end its poverty trap, the country requires about N5 to N7 trillion yearly to fund the operation of a thorough well-managed social security system.

Experts are of the view that Nigeria with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $440 billion and being the largest economy in Africa, but caught in a deep poverty cycle, rethinking social protection that is well-organised, expertly planned and supported by national law remained necessary.

A report on ‘Nigeria’s Poverty Trap – And How To End It’ by the Institute for Governance and Economic Transformation (IGET), identified poorly designed social protection measures, limited coverage, lack of consistency, lack of data and corruption as some of the causes of inadequate social protection.

It stated that such a comprehensive social protection system needed to be independently and expertly examined, reviewed and monitored to stop leaks caused by fraud and corruption.

According to the report, implementing the measures while incorporating structural reforms will increase the chances of controlling the rise of poverty as a “growth industry” in the short term, while structural reforms will start to show results in the medium term.

The report, which was authored by IGET Founder and President, Kingsley Moghalu and a Research Fellow at IGET, Damian Ude, said the country’s poverty trap was brought about by a failure of nationhood and governance.

It listed reasons such as inequality and marginalisation, conflict, lack of education and skills; lack of employment or other means of support, high food prices that reduce their purchasing power, the effects of climate change such as floods and droughts, lack of savings, inadequate social welfare and social security programmes provided by the government and unchecked population growth as reasons people live in poverty.

They argued that it was because the political elite had placed a considerably greater emphasis on self-serving state capture for patronage and sectarian interests than on a sincere desire to end poverty.

According to them, a broken and corrupt political system has created the wrong priorities.