Borrow with care, IMF advises FG

The Federal Government has been advised to exercise restraint in its borrowing plans by the International Monetary Fund, IMF.

In a statement she issued on Thursday at the end of her four-day working visit to Nigeria, the Managing Director of the IMF, Christine Lagarde urged the Federal Government to broaden its revenue base and create additional fiscal space to offset the impact of falling oil prices.

She advised government to take "careful decisions on borrowing, public spending, and managing the cost of fuel subsidies – with a view to safeguarding priority social sectors and the most vulnerable groups.”

Lagarde also said that the country would "require a package of measures involving business-friendly monetary policy, flexible exchange rate policy, and disciplined fiscal policy, and the implementation of structural reforms.”

She complimented the efforts of government to "address corruption, particularly the decision to publish monthly data on the finances and operations of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC),” adding that “transparency and the rule of law will be crucial in reducing constraints to the country’s growth.”