‘FG needs tougher policies on economic reforms’

The Group Managing-Director of Afrinvest, an investment banking firm, with focus on the West Africa region, Ike Chioke, has said the federal government requires tougher reforms that will restructure the economy. 

Speaking at the 2016 review and 2017 projection of the company in Lagos with the theme: “Reform or be relegated”, Chioke said the kind of reforms the government has been doing is going around the edges.

“We have refused to reform some of the deep seated area of the economy. The petroleum industry bill has been sleeping and floating around. Policy uncertainty remains the biggest risk factor in our economy,” he said.

Chioke argued that 2017 economic performance will be determined by how policy makers will be able to engender confidence in the market adding that Investors are interested in regulations, reforms and not just the economic potentials of a country.

He said weak fiscal response, oil production volume shocks and an incoherent monetary policy stance-which resulted in a currency market crises- pushed the economy into a recession and damaged investors’ sentiments.

An investment research analyst at the firm, Omotolani Abimbola, said major factors that affected the global economic like Brexit adding that the election in France and Germany will have major impact in the Nigerian market if populist movement prevail as we saw in the USA in 2016.