afrol News, 13 August - According to Nigeria's Finance Minister, the national economy grew by an impressive 10.2 percent last year. Growth was not only due to increased oil prices, but also a result of a strengthened non-oil sector and the prudent economic policies stuck to by the Ministry, she said.

Nigerian Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, yesterday said that due to the restructuring programme embarked upon by this administration to promote better service delivery, "the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew from 3.5 percent in year 2002 to 10.2 percent in year 2003," according to a government press statement sent to afrol News today.

Speaking during a press briefing organised by the Ministry, Ms Okonjo-Iweala said this growth was recorded "as a result of improvements in non-oil sector and increased revenue brought about by the increase in oil prices." According to her, "better management of fiscal policies has been used to reduce the rate of inflation, which has been the bane of the economy."

The Minister further noted that due to "prudent management of oil revenue," the country had excess reserve of naira 327 billon (euro 2.0 billion). Nigeria's Federal Office of Statistics, she emphasised, now was to "be strengthened and re-positioned towards ensuring a verifiable database" that would assist in policy formulation.

Ms Okonjo-Iweala added that the era where government money must be put into productive use had now come and a bill that would ensure fiscal responsibility by government agencies is in the making. The Finance Minister also recently had urged her colleagues to run the affairs of their Ministries in a transparent manner and ensure judicious use of resources.

While Ms Okonjo-Iweala was presenting new positive statistics on Nigeria's economy and praised the results of prudent economic policies, Nigeria's federal government approved the fiscal strategy paper for the 2005 fiscal year as well as a medium term expenditure plan for 2005 to 2007. Both strategy papers had been presented to government by Ms Okonjo-Iweala.

Addressing the media in Abuja's State House, Information Minister Chief Chukwuemeka Chikelu, said that these papers "set clear and measurable fiscal rules," which he described as "a decisive break from the past." According to him, the programme introduces a new regime for medium-term control and management of public expenditure.

Mr Chikelu further explained that the medium term expenditure plan would observe the fiscal rules which ensures that revenue projection is based on an oil price of US$ 25 per barrel, fiscal deficit not exceeding 2 percent of nominal GDP while domestic borrowing of the government to finance deficits will not exceed naira 70 billion (euro 431 million) in 2005 and naira 50 billion (euro 308 million) each in 2006 and 2007.

The Minister also briefed on the performance of the Nigerian economy between 1999 and 2003, saying that his government in the past five years ran large budget deficits that were financed by borrowing from the Central Bank, resulting in double digit inflation and high nominal interest rate and stagnant growth per capital.

He however stressed that the 2004 budget "is meant to usher in an era of fiscal discipline." Finance Minister Okonjo-Iweala, he said, has succeeded in inviting foreign investors to the country while the World Bank recently had passed a vote of confidence on Nigeria's new economic policies. Ms Okonjo-Iweala was undertaking something close to a "revolution in the financial sector," the Information Minister noted.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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