By Francis Akinnodi
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The Federal Government has been urged to reduce borrowing and focus on widening tax bracket in the country.
This was the opinion of economic experts when speaking with The Hope yesterday.
They both agreed that inflation has become a daunting menace and urged gave several recommendations to curb inflation such as the removal of fuel subsidies, collaboration between the fiscal and monetary authorities, reduction in government spending, and others.
According to an economist, Dr. Timothy Awe said: “Government should increase enhance efficiency and transparency while reviewing all forms of untargeted subsidies, tax waivers, and incentives by increasing non-oil revenues through tax net expansion and collection efficiency.”
He added that there should be an integrated fiscal management strategy to expand the funding mix through Public-Private Partnership (PPP), innovative structured finance, and intervention funds.
He added: “Contain Inflation by reducing Federal government recourse to CBN Finance. The CBN also needs to adopt a single market-reflective exchange rate and there is a need for collaboration between the fiscal and monetary authorities to support the economy.”
He also urged FG to facilitate domestic trade and boost economic value addition through the removal of FX and trade restrictions.
“The CBN also needs to set a clear monetary policy framework that increases access to finance and eliminate risks created by monetisation of CBN ways and means.”
On her part, Chief Executive Officer of Emerging Africa Capital, Ms. Toyin Sanni said: “Inflation would likely continue to trend upwards in the short to medium term due to the intensified fuel scarcity across the country with little or no clarity on possible solutions, the ripple effect of the flood event on agriculture outputs, and the scarce and expensive foreign exchange.
“Nigeria can reduce government spending by cutting back on subsidies and other forms of government support. This can help to reduce inflation by decreasing the amount of money in circulation and in increasing taxes, Nigeria can also increase taxes to decrease aggregate demand and help control inflation.”
She noted that improving infrastructure and investing in infrastructure can improve the overall efficiency of the economy and increase productivity, which can help to increase economic growth and decrease inflation.
