The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun,  has expressed confidence that if the country  implements its  plans diligently, it can grow the economy to desirable levels.

Adeosun made the remark at a joint press conference by the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at the Nigerian office of the World Bank  (WB) in Washington D.C.

She said, “We have headroom to grow, so what we all need to do is to come together. I think that’s where NEC will be really important. All these roads and rails now are now translating to real projects and jobs for our people. Just a road doesn’t create jobs, what creates jobs is for people to open businesses and take advantage of opportunities and go the next mile. That’s why we need the state governments and tghe private sector to key into specific projects we are diversifying. We don’t want that anymore. Which project, where?

“We are confident that by 2019 the growth will be far more robust than what we have now if we can remain optimistic but vigilant.”

On debt rebalancing, Adeosun emphasised that at the take-off of this administration, 80 per cent of the country’s debt was short-dated with a tenure of two years or less.

“Interest was compounding on debt service to revenue. So what we did was to restructure, and we told the debt management office to stop issuing 90 days bill. Issue 180, 360 and bonds to reduce your interest cost,” she said.

She noted that most of what was owed was domestic and the interest rate was high as 19 to 20 per cent.  She said, “Today, what DMO is paying is around 13 per cent because we have restructured that portfolio, refined some into dollars.”

She noted that the Nigerian Government borrowing heavily and coming out of the domestic market was for the banks to be able to lend to the real sector.

“The real fiscal buffer is an economy that is growing strongly. That is the real shock absorber, and then we can weather the storm if there is a storm,” she said.