Lagos, Dec. 29, 2024 – Muda Yusuf, the Director of Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) in Lagos has advised federal government to urgently recapitalise development finance institutions in the country.
He said the recapitalisation of the development banks like Bank of Industry, Bank of Agriculture and NEXIM would help to deepen their development finance interventions.
Yusuf gave the advice on Sunday in a statement on the outlook of the Nigerian Economy in 2025.
He said there was also the need to revitalise and restructure the BoI to support the agricultural sector and agro-allied industries with the much-needed concessionary financing.
The economist said the current high interest rates in the commercial banks had continued to impede the recovery and growth of the Nigerian agricultural and agro-allied sectors.
“The CBN should soften its tightening stance in order to support investment growth and job creation in the economy.
“The current high interest regime foisted by the tightening regime increases the risk of loan defaults, increasing the prospects of higher non-performing loans in the financial sector.
“The high interest rate also increases debt service cost for government with the current huge exposure to domestic debts.
.Yusuf also said there was the need for government to protect the real economy from the adverse consequences of free market principles.
He advised Nigerian businesses to leverage technology to reduce their cost and ensure competitiveness.
He said the current economic reforms had their silver linings which included the following enormous opportunities for import substitution across all sectors.
The economist also said the reforms had the potential to reduce cost, improve patronage and profitability.
He advised businesses to focus more on backward integration initiatives.
Yusuf advised businesses to boost to recycling so as to check the soaring cost of raw materials and other inputs. (GBN)
