Minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy, Wale Edun, says the federal government is committed to ending the problem of hyperinflation in the country and will intensify efforts towards it.
According to a statement signed by Stephen Kilebi, director of press in the ministry, he made the commitment in his address at a two-day retreat of the presidential committee on fiscal policy and tax reforms in Abuja.
Commenting on the rise in inflation to 24.08 per cent, he assured Nigerians that better days are ahead with the implementation of the ‘renewed hope’ agenda of President Bola Tinubu.
According to him, the removal of petrol subsidy had slowed down the economy, but there were interventions in place to cushion the pains of the reform and plug leakages on subsidy management.
The statement quoyted the minister to have said that it is the wish of Mr. President to create jobs, reduce poverty, control micro and macroeconomic policies to create a stable environment to attract investors, stabilise the exchange rate and drive the economy to reduce poverty to the lowest level.
“The era of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) per capita falling by 30 per cent over the past 10 years will be a thing of the past with Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda,” he stated.
Edun reminded the committee members of the president’s 30-day deadline to deliver something tangible on their assignment, adding that the economy is not growing as fast as expected.
He, therefore, advised the committee to fast-track its assignment, saying there is no time to waste.
On his part, Taiwo Oyedele, chairman of the committee, said the terms of reference of the panel include fiscal governance, revenue administration and tax policy review.
He listed the deliverables from the committee to include optimum taxes, harmonised revenue collection functions, a revised national tax policy, national fiscal framework and also said preparation of bills for a constitutional amendment, revenue optimisation, production of a model template for sub-nationals and establishment of the national tax amnesty scheme, were also to be looked into.
