FG has ended borrowing – Finance Minister

The Federal Government says it has no intention to borrow from any local or foreign organisation with its removal of subsidy on petrol and exchange rate harmonisation. The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Chief Wale Edun, revealed this at the end of the inaugural Federal Executive Council meeting on Monday in Abuja. He said that the benefit of the subsidy removal would be ploughed back into various sectors aimed at boosting government revenue and improving business environment for local and foreign investment. Edun said that with the increased revenue from subsidy removal, various palliatives had been made available to cushion its effects on a short, medium and long term bases. He reiterated the President Bola Tinubu-led administration’s desire to bring back the economy from the wood it has found itself over time.

Similarly, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Doris Uzoka-Anite, said investment offers were already coming up in different sectors of the economy, including oil and gas, health, solid minerals and agriculture. She said that her ministry would collaborate with relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government to achieve the president’s commitment to creation of jobs for the teeming youthful population of Nigeria. On his part, the Minister of Health, Prof. Ali Pate, said that critical sections of the health value chain would be exploited to improve the economy and create jobs for Nigerians. He said that the president had directed them to be courageous and innovative in taking decisions that would benefit the country, adding that the president is already taking such moves.

Pate said that the president was responsive to the need to set the economy on the path of progress with his move to remove subsidy on petrol on his first day in office. The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, said that the president charged the cabinet members to be transparent in their dealings, especially in disseminating necessary information. He urged the media to avail themselves the opportunity of verifying and fact checking their stories in order not to misinform the public. (NAN)