By Merit Ibe
The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has decried the 2024 budget performance report which showed that only N1.84 billion had been achieved so far out of the budget’s N9 trillion capital expenditure component (before the amendment).
The chamber made the remark yesterday during an address on the state of the economy, where it noted that the capital expenditure released so far was too small in the face of the magnitude of the infrastructural deficit that businesses suffer.
President of the chamber, Gabriel Idahosa, pointed out that in the history of the Nigerian economy, the 2024 Federal budget is the largest at N34.9 trillion (once the Senate approves the amendment to the Appropriation Act to accommodate the additional N6.2 trillion proposed by the Federal Government), advising the government to be faithful in deploying the additional funds on business-boosting infrastructure as proposed to the National Assembly.
“With the new capital expenditure component of N12.2 trillion and a release of only N1.84 trillion at mid-year, we definitely need to speed up the release of funds for capital projects in the next quarter to boost economic growth.”
Idahosa lamented that A major challenge with budget performance has always been weak revenue generation, suggesting that government must be innovative and sensitive in its quest to drive revenue generation to fund the budget deficit.
The chamber further appealed to government to tackle the many economic issues bedevilling the country to deliver democratic dividends to Nigerian citizens and businesses.
In response to policies, the LCCI boss, urged the government to tackle the problem of insecurity, which has continued to threaten productive activities in the real economy sector.
“While we appreciate the government’s efforts in fighting all manner of crimes and insurgencies, we believe more can be done until we have a safe environment where farmers can produce and move their goods from farms to markets in certain areas of the country.”
On managing the persistently high inflation, the chamber recommended that monetary and fiscal authorities focus on the factors driving the inflation rates by tackling supply-side deficiencies instead of focusing too much on demand-side management.
“We urge the CBN to be consistent with the FOREX market reforms until we see the desired impact on the rising inflation rate and burdening high interest rates.
“We recommend the CBN explore alternative policy measures that promote credit access, stimulate investment and support entrepreneurship. This could include targeted interventions such as concessional lending facilities, loan guarantees, and interest rate subsidies tailored to the needs of SMEs and key sectors of the economy like agriculture, manufacturing, and power technology.
“On power supply, the government should create the needed environment where local meter manufacturing can thrive to bridge the current gap in meter deployment. This will reduce the pressure on the foreign exchange market, create jobs, generate revenue for the government, and develop local expertise in meter manufacturing.
“Other areas of intervention could be adopting a cheaper duty rate for importing agricultural inputs for local manufacturing and investment in building agro-industrial hubs across the country.”