President
of the World Bank Group, Mr Jim Yong Kim, said on Thursday that the bank had
concentrated on the northern region of Nigeria in line with President Muhammadu
Buhari’s request.
Kim and Managing Director, International
Monetary Fund, Ms Christine Lagarde, who spoke at separate press conferences in
Washington DC, United States, also advised Buhari to invest in things that
would enhance economic growth.
Kim said, “You know, in my very first meeting
with President Buhari he said specifically that he would like us to shift our
focus to the northern region of Nigeria and we’ve done that. Now, it has been
very difficult. The work there has been very difficult.
“I think Nigeria, of course, has suffered
from the dropping oil prices. I think things are just now getting better. But
the conversation we need to have with Nigeria, I think, is in many ways related
to the theme that I brought to the table just this past week, which is
investment in human capital. The percentage of the Gross Domestic Product that
Nigeria spends on healthcare is less than one percent.”
He added, “Despite that, there is so much
turbulence in the northern part of the country, and there is the hit that was
taken from the drop in the oil prices. Nigeria has to think ahead and invest in
its people. Investing in the things that will allow Nigeria to be a thriving,
rapidly growing economy in the future is what the country has to focus on right
now.”
Kim also said, “Focusing on the northern part
of Nigeria, we hope that as commodity prices stabilise and oil prices come back
up, the economy will grow a bit more. But very, very much important is the need
to focus on what the drivers of growth in the future will be.”
According to the World Bank boss, the bank
will invest in human capital in other parts of Africa in order to prepare the
continent for the next phase of growth.
Lagarde, in her remarks, said Sub-Saharan
African countries, including Nigeria, had posted suboptimal growth in recent
times.
The growth figures, she said, were far too
small considering the huge demographic potential of Nigeria and other countries
in the region.
As a result, she said IMF would be engaging
ministers of finance and central bank governors from the region attending the
annual World Bank and IMF meetings on how they could boost and stabilise
economic growth.
Lagarde said, “Sub-Saharan Africa is one
region of the world where growth is suboptimal. Those countries grow at an average
growth of 2.5 per cent. That is too low for the demographic expansion of the
region.”
The IMF managing director said emerging and
developing economies must invest more in their economies through
infrastructural spending, strengthening safety nets, allowing women more access
to the labour market and carrying structural reforms.
Source: reubenabati.com
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