Capital market-mining industry partnership’ll boost economic diversification – Ahmed

A strategic partnership between the mining sector and the capital market community will enhance the competitiveness of the country’s new non-oil commodities and compliment the economic diversification of the Federal Government.

Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, stated this during a webinar organised by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in collaboration with the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development with the theme, “Financing the Solid Minerals Sector through the Capital Market and the Critical Role of Commodity Exchanges” on Thursday.

Ahmed said the facilitation of funding and provision of structured market platforms such as the commodities exchanges portend significant addition for the mining and solid minerals sector, saying that the theme was very relevant to the economy given the need to diversify and grow to enable the nation achieve sustainable development in a post COVID-19 pandemic environment.

Ahmed noted that the given the economic challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic, the ongoing efforts of the Federal Government to achieve economic diversification has been affected by a decline in revenue, underlined by volatility in global oil prices its main source of foreign exchange earnings. According to her, “the mining sector is strategically based as alternative source for revenue generation in the economic diversification plan of the Federal Government of Nigeria”. 

“It also has the potential to create employment and develop rural settings among other benefits.