VANGUARD
No fewer than 104 million Nigerians now live below the poverty line since the economic reforms of President Bola Tinubu.
This was contained in the World Bank Nigeria Development Update, NDP, report released in Abuja today.
The World Bank report specially noted that petrol subsidy removal and foreign exchange rates unification created intense cost of living pressures. This, it said, pushed more Nigerians into poverty.
The world financial institution, however, praised the Federal Government for what it considered “bold reforms”. It said they were necessary to rescue Nigeria from fiscal cliff, describing the current pains as temporary.
Verdict
The Update indicated that Nigeria was not yet out of the woods but on the path to full recovery. This was as a result of the various policies being implemented by both fiscal and monetary authorities.
The World Bank called on the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL to make public its statement of accounts and transparently disclose its revenue inflows.
The report read in part: “The removal of the subsidy was announced on May 29 and pump prices were adjusted on June 1.
“This results in expected fiscal savings of around N2 trillion in 2023 or 0.9 percent of GDP.
“Between 2023 and 2025, the expected gains are over N11 trillion, against a scenario in which the subsidy had continued.”
On NNPC, it said: “Publish detailed financial statements and revenue flows of NPPC to safeguard the fiscal savings from the subsidy reform and ensure that oil revenues flow to the Federation (Account)”
In his remarks, Shubham Chaudhuri, World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, said that between N300 billion and N400 billion was expended on fuel subsidy monthly.
He added that the expectation was that the NNPCL should have been paying such amount to the Federation Account. He said such had not been the case.
He added: “The petrol subsidy and forex management reforms are critical steps in the right direction towards improving Nigeria’s economic outlook.
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