‘Nigerians don't care about debt figures if things are costly’ - Economist shreds Tinubu's budget

Renowned economist Bismarck Rewane says Nigerians don't care about budgetary figures if the cost of essential commodities like rice, bread, and garri fails to be reduced.

Rewane said this on the Channels Television Programme Business Morning on Thursday, November 30, 2023.

Rewane says the cost of living more important than budget arithmetic

Rewane said budgetary figures are only useful to people when things reduce in the next six months. He said Nigerians can only make sense of the budget if it impacts the price of rice and garri, among others.

He said: "In the end, budgetary arithmetics, budgetary mathematics in economics, is of no use to anybody except when, by this time, six months if we are buying rice at N40,000 a bag rather than N60,000 a bag if we are buying bread at N900 a big loaf instead of N1,300, which we are doing today. Suppose we are buying garri at lower prices.

"The people are not interested in whether the budget is balanced or what the debt is. How does it (the budget) affect their day-to-day livelihood? That is the key thing."