The 2012 Tokyo Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank group came to a close in Tokyo Japan, with one clear message:? Global growth has decelerated and substantial uncertainties and downside risks remain. The 26th meeting announced key policy steps and warned that effective and timely implementation is critical to rebuild confidence.
The coordinating minister of the economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala disclosed in a press parley at the end of the meetings that Nigeria, like other countries, participated in the meetings to assess the state of the world’s economy and the world’s finances to know the state of events and take adequate measures to either protect itself or see how it can make its economy grow in the context of what is happening globally.
“It is important that we take cognisance of what is going on globally, because that shows us how to position Nigeria nationally in order for economic development to take place,” the minister said.
“What we saw in all these meetings is that in the analysis of both IMF and the World Bank as well as the finance ministers and the central bank governors is that there is still a lot of uncertainty in the global environment.”
The minister revealed that African countries were advised to build buffers by putting in place measures that will protect the countries in the event of a continued downturn in the global environment.? “That is the message we are getting – build buffers, continue the good policies and focus on creating jobs. The good news is that on the fiscal and monetary policy side, we are already taking measures that will create micro-stability. I think we need to do this to create more jobs” Okonjo-Iweala disclosed further.
On the fiscal side, the minister declared that the recent budget presented by President Goodluck Jonathan provided the fiscal basis for onward stability.
?“The benchmark price of oil we have proposed gives us enough room to spend without going far. The focus on concentrating expenditures in the budget on infrastructure, agriculture, security and opening up the bottlenecks that are constraining the economy is the right focus. I think as far as micro-stability is concerned, we are doing the right thing – and we must not lose focus.
Okonjo-Iweala warned that Nigeria must not do things that will disturb the fiscal measures that are being put in place. “The message we are getting is that we are about right on what we are doing and we should maintain that,” she concluded.