The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), a leading private sector advocacy group in Nigeria, on Wednesday advised the government to prioritize six major areas in its policy steps in order to improve the nation’s economic performance and reduce the socioeconomic burdens on the citizenry as the year is running close to its end.
The Chamber gave the policy advisory to the government after comprehensively appraising the results of the monetary and fiscal policies of the Federal Government over the last three quarters of this year and emerging developments in the global economy, particularly the crude oil market uncertainties.
The President of the organized private sector (OPS) advocacy group, Engr. Leye Kupoluyi, while briefing the media on the Chamber’s assessment of the performance of the economy in the last three quarters of the year, noted that there had been improvements in the economy as the government sustained its reforms, especially in global ratings of the economy, foreign reserves accruals, reduction in borrowing costs, investor confidence, and AI adoption in governance, among other assessment parameters.
For instance, he admitted that the third quarter of this year presented a mixed picture of the Nigerian economy, with encouraging signs in economic growth, foreign-exchange stability, external reserves and the moderation of inflation, for which the government should be commended.
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The industry leader, however, said that despite these modest achievements, the rising cost of energy, surging debt profile, infrastructure deficit, weak consumer demand and declining consumer purchasing power multiple taxation and regulatory burdens, high logistics costs associated with merchandize trade, insecurity, and policy uncertainty and implementation gaps represented major constraints to businesses that must be frontally tackled by the government in order to boost the economic performance on a sustainable basis.
According to him, the persistent burden of energy costs, expensive financing, weak purchasing power, logistics inefficiencies, infrastructure deficits, insecurity and regulatory challenges continues to constrain the productive economy.
Noting that the central challenge for the final quarter of the year is to ensure that macroeconomic improvements translate into tangible benefits for businesses and households, Engr. Kupoluyi, therefore, called on the government to intensify efforts to reduce the cost of doing business, strengthen manufacturing and SMEs, improve access to productive credit, lower logistics costs and create a more predictable regulatory environment.
To address the sundry challenges in the environment, the LCCI President urged the government as we enter the final quarter of the year to focus on six immediate priorities, namely reduce the cost of energy and transportation, improve support for manufacturing and SMEs, and sustain disinflation while protecting productive investments.
In addition, Engr. Kupoluyi, a leading player in the power sector, also advocated the need for the government to improve the tax and regulatory environment as well as strengthen food supply chains and agricultural productivity as strategic steps towards achieving inclusive growth of the nation’s economy.
Specifically, the LCCI President canvassed: “Government should develop a coordinated programme to lower the energy and logistics costs confronting productive enterprises. This should include measures to improve electricity, strengthen domestic refining and distribution, improve transport infrastructure and remove avoidable charges across supply chains.
“The government should prioritize access to affordable financing, reliable power, industrial infrastructure and efficient import and export procedures. Development-finance institutions should expand well-governed financing arrangements for viable productive enterprises, with transparent eligibility criteria and clear performance requirements. Support should be designed to improve productivity, capacity utilization, technology adoption and employment.
“Monetary policy should remain consistent with the objective of price stability, but policymakers must pay close attention to the transmission of interest rates to credit in the productive sector. Fiscal policy should complement monetary efforts by reducing supply-side constraints. Government must also maintain fiscal discipline and improve the quality of public expenditure.
“The implementation of tax reforms should be accompanied by simplified compliance procedures, effective taxpayer education, harmonization of overlapping charges and a transparent dispute-resolution framework. We recommend a structured review of regulations that impose disproportionate costs on SMEs. The objective is to encourages formalization and enterprise expansion.
“Government should intensify support for irrigation, mechanization, storage, rural roads, agricultural finance and agro-processing. It should address insecurity affecting farming communities and improve the efficiency of moving agricultural produce from farms to markets. Reducing the food cost requires an efficient value chain that minimizes waste, transportation costs and avoidable intermediaries”, he added.
In his concluding remarks, Engr. Kupoluyi commended the media for being a partner to the LCCI in advancing its engagement with the government to create an enabling investment environment that will drive the Nigerian economy and benefit all investors and economic players.
