N35tn infrastructure investment required for double-digit growth - Emefiele

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, has declared that about N35 trillion investment in infrastructure is required for the economy to post double-digit growth.

But, he declared that given the paucity of government revenues, it will be difficult to support such investments using government funds alone.

The Nigerian economy recorded a 0.51 per cent growth in the first quarter of 2021 after a 0.11 per cent growth in the fourth quarter of 2020. In a goodwill message he delivered at a webinar on “Financing Public-Private Partnership to Boost Infrastructure Delivery in Nigeria,” organised by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) in Abuja, Thursday Emefiele noted that the theme of the webinar was topical as a critical part of efforts to drive sustainable growth of the Nigerian economy.

The CBN Governor whose message was delivered by the Deputy Governor of the bank on Economic Policy, Dr Kingsley Obiora, said the COVID-19 pandemic had exerted an unprecedented impact on the Nigerian economy, adding that significant interventions by the monetary and fiscal authorities had led to exit from two recessions although growth is muted.

He observed: “While this news is positive, growth is still well below our population growth of 2.7 per cent. It is therefore imperative that we all work together to harness the growth potential of the Nigerian economy.

“If we take into account Nigeria’s Infrastructure Masterplan, we require close to N35 trillion worth of investment in order to attain double-digit growth. But given the paucity of government revenue, which the BPE Director-General mentioned earlier, it will be difficult to support these investments using government funds alone.

“So, finding ways to harness public-private partnerships have become very important and we are happy to acknowledge that these partnerships have started in earnest and the Central Bank of Nigeria looks forward to continuing collaboration with the BPE to harness these partnerships to ensure that we significantly scale up investment in our infrastructure,” he said.

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