N2.3trn stimulus package may face hurdles – Advisory council

The Presidential Economic Advisory Council on Tuesday warned that the smooth implementation of the N2.3trn stimulus package could be hampered if the ensuing problems were left unattended to.

PEAC Chairman Doyin Salami, while leading a virtual presentation before President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, said the council welcomed the Economic Sustainability Plan produced by the Economic Sustainability Committee headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

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The council recommended that the ESP promote export-oriented production strategies, ensure the use of local resources, curtail post-harvest losses in agriculture put at between 40-60 percent and make the economy attractive to “non-debt” private sector-funded investment to cut the rising cost of debt services.

Buhari urged the PEAC members to do more to help the country exit “our very terrible state of development” during a virtual audience with them.

“We’re a country characterised by a large population of poor people, serious infrastructure deficit, lack of housing and a vulnerable economy now haunted by the COVID-19 pandemic and collapse of the oil sector and its effect on the GDP,” he said.