Nigeria Saved $20bn From Subsidy Removal, Naira Float Policies – Edun

Posted by Nwa Diokpa Featured, Latest Headlines, News Across Nigeria Monday, November 25th, 2024

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – The minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy, Wale Edun, has stated that Nigeria has saved $20 billion from petrol subsidy removal and also market-based pricing of the foreign exchange rate.

Edun stated this during a ceremony recently held to mark the first 100 days in office of Esther Walso-Jack, the head of civil service of the federation, in Abuja.

“An amount of five per cent of GDP is what those two subsidies were costing when there was a subsidy on PMS; when there was petroleum product generally for a long time and when there was a subsidy of foreign exchange. Between them, they were costing five percent of GDP,” he said.

“If you say GDP was on average, let’s say $400 billion. We all know what five percent of that is – $20 billion of funds that could be going into infrastructure, health, social services, education.”

According to Edun, these flows now return into the government’s coffers which are deployed to the aforementioned sectors.

“The real change that has happened with the measures of Mr. President is that nobody can wake up and their target for the day or for the week or the month or the year is to get access to cheap funding, cheap funding exchange from central bank, which they can now flip,” Edun said.

“And overnight, they become wealthy from no value added for doing virtually nothing, except you know the right people. Similarly, they can no longer try and be part of a new peak market and very inefficient petrol subsidy regime as a way of making money overnight.”