Wale Edun, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, has noted that Nigeria needs to invest $20 billion annually to achieve the government’s economic targets by 2027.
Gatekeepers News reports that Edun spoke on Friday during the citizens and stakeholders engagement on the implementation of presidential priorities and ministerial deliverables for the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2024, in Abuja.
The minister said the additional $20 billion per year was required to grow the economy by an average of 6.3 percent in the medium term.
“We need significantly more growth, an additional $20 billion is the target we need for social infrastructure to facilitate logistics for agriculture,” he said.
The minister also said the government would rely primarily on increased revenue to meet the ambitious target.
He said there was a need for a robust tax revenue framework to secure the necessary funding, adding that sustainable economic growth hinged on the strategy.
“To achieve this target and grow the economy, the government can only secure the funds from revenue,” Edun said.
“Tax revenue needs to be increased to reach the desired levels.”
He said controlling the fiscal deficit and ensuring a stable exchange rate would boost investor confidence.
According to Edun, it will lead to more business activity in the country and increased tax revenue from investments.
“Once the deficit and exchange rate are under control, it will encourage investors to come and do business in Nigeria. In turn, they will pay their taxes,” he said.
Edun further said President Bola Tinubu’s renewed hope agenda had been a huge success.
On her part, Doris Uzoka-Anite, minister of state for finance, said the federal ministry of finance, just like every other ministry, has a bilateral engagement with departments and agencies under its supervision to report the ministry’s performance quarterly.
“The two major revenue generating agencies under the supervision of the ministry are the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and Nigeria Custom service,” Uzoka-Anite said.
“They performed above their target and this is highly commendable.”
Uzoka-Anite said all the agencies under the ministry have performed well.
