LCCI anticipates positive growth, seeks policies to boost projections
By Rukayat Moisemhe
The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has expressed belief that the economy would end the current year in positive growth of three to four per cent.
LCCI president, Mr Gabriel Idahosa, said this at the chamber’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Thursday in Lagos.
He, however, said that achieving faster recovery required the fiscal and monetary sides of the economy to promote policies that would encourage private capital flows to the economy.
According to him, fiscal and monetary authorities need to develop a medium-term growth plan anchored on boosting local production, supporting ease of doing business and attracting private investment.
Idahosa said the plan should also focus on developing infrastructure, business-friendly regulatory policies, economic diversification, and employment generation.
“Nigeria is presently confronted with a myriad of challenges including sustained double-digit inflation, a steadily rising debt profile, revenue mobilisation challenges and others.
“We have advocated for a well-coordinated synergy between the fiscal and monetary authorities in engagement with the private sector to navigate the uncertain economic terrain.
“We will continue to engage with government in creating an enabling business environment where the private sector is empowered to grow, create jobs and generate revenue for the government,” he said.
Addressing some economic indices, the LCCI president noted that the private sector was currently plagued with increased borrowing costs and a pressured foreign exchange market.
He said recent hikes in Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) had directly translated to higher interest rates, making it more expensive for businesses to access credit for working capital, expansion, and sustainability.
He said that rate hikes alone would not curb inflation without resolving the challenges of the real sector of the economy.
Idahosa added that the country needed to diversify its exports by boosting local crude refining capacity production of petrochemical products and accelerating reforms in the and gas sector.
“The chamber looks forward to the sustained implementation of naira payments for crude oil sales to the Dangote refinery and other local refineries, which started on Oct. 1, 2024.
“We urge government to summon the courage to be consistent with the oil and gas sector reforms and implement the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) fully.
“We see the long-term gains of these reforms if they are implemented under a conducive regulatory environment,” he said.
On the projected N47.9 trillion 2025 budget to run the economy, Idahosa said the key parameters and assumptions on which the budget was proposed was too optimistic in face of some economic and social indicators.
Dr Chinyere Almona, Director General, LCCI, urged government to create an enabling environment for businesses to thrive to enhance their productivity and contribute more meaningfully to the economy.
She noted that while the last one year was filled with very difficult reforms, businesses should stay the course on these reforms and things would improve.
Almona urged businesses to think of alternatives to improve efficiency, attract finance and be more productive, while hoping for the next year to be better.
She also called on authorities to focus on non-oil exports to attract more foreign exchange.
“When we talk of exports, we are not just talking of exporting raw materials but processing materials to command top dollar in the export market.
“At the chamber, we are looking for how we can improve our export and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) groups to improve their capacity and productivity to export more, ” he said.
He said they would continue to advocate on bottlenecks that government needed to address while working to educate them on standards, parameters and packaging of products across the borders. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
Edited by Benson Ezugwu/Oluwole Sogunle
