The minister of finance and coordinating minister of economy, Mr Wale Edun yesterday traced the cause of the current biting inflation in the country on the eight years of printing trillions of naira under former President Muhammadu Buhari.
Edun stated this when he appeared before the senate committee on finance.
He said N22.7 trillion was printed by the Central Bank of Nigeria through Ways and Means overdraft for the federal government from 2015 to 2023 adding that money printed was benefitted by few individuals in the country
“We talked about inflation, where has it come from? It’s come from eight years of just printing money. And the issue is that that money was not matched by productivity.
“It’s not like when you earn dollars and you free the naira alongside it, although there’s even a better way than that. But that’s still not as bad. It’s not as if the money is matched by productivity and increase in output. It is not. And what happened was that for eight years, the weak were left to their own devices. It is the privileged few that took everything,” he said.
The minister reiterated the government’s resolve to audit the N22.7 trillion ways and means advance.
“We are going to audit the 22.7 trillion. It’s still there and that also must be dealt with through the market, not through something that was just printed. But we will audit because we need to be sure.
“You distinguished senators have helped. You have given us the mandate to raise N7 trillion, which we will do by sucking money from the market, using it to pay back the central bank and giving the government a balanced book. We are going to audit even the N22.7 trillion printed aimlessly, he added.
He assured the committee that various damage-mitigating economic policies being rolled out by the present government, would in no distant time, bring about great recoveries in terms of lower Inflation rate and improved gross domestic product growth rate.
Edun specifically told the lawmakers that rather than seeking loans; Tinubu’s administration will increase the revenue generation of the country.
“We should not be despondent. We have done the hard part. Mr. President, through the bold and courageous measures which are recognised around the world as being beyond the usual, what you would normally see.
“To so riskily and robustly change the things that are wrong. And it wasn’t just a set of measures. It’s not just lifting of subsidy here or margin of rates there. No. It is a strategic plan, the whole fiscal side, the government’s finances have been repaired,” he added.
Responding, the chairman of the committee, Mr Sani Musa, assured that the lawmakers will continue to interface with the federal government and find a lasting solution to the worsening economic crisis.
