By Onyeche Igwe
The Minister of Finance and Co-ordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, says Nigerian economy is showing signs of growth with a Gross Domestic Product growth rate of 2.98 per cent in the first quarter of 2024.
Edun made this known during the presentation of his ministry’s performance, one year into President Bola Tinubu’s administration in Abuja on Tuesday.
The finance minister spoken from Washington DC where he is attending the IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings.
Edun said himself and Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso, are in Washington DC to showcase the progress made so far in the Nigerian economy.
He said, “The Economic Team of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is here to showcase the progress so far of his bold, courageous and strategic reforms of the Nigerian economy in order to get it stabilise and get investment in to get it growing again.
“We’ve all seen what has happened in terms of stabilising the exchange rate and inflation which is headed in the right direction.
“If you look closely at the numbers that came out yesterday (Monday), you will see that there is a slowing of the rate of increase of food inflation, things are moving in the right direction, government revenues are up, even oil revenues are up but not as much as we will like.”
Recall that prices of food and basic commodities have been on the rise in the last weeks, as Nigerians witness toughest economic crises sparked by policies of petrol subsidy removal and unification of forex windows.
On Monday, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS)’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) report showed that the food inflation rate in March 2024 stood at 3.62%, showing a decline of 0.17% from February 2024, when it was 3.79%.
