The International Monetary Fund has urged Nigeria to broaden its tax revenue base in order to strengthen its fiscal policy.
IMF managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, stated this at a news conference in Washington, D.C., on the sidelines of the 2025 IMF Spring Meeting.
In achieving this, Ms Georgieva said Nigeria, like other African nations, should deploy technology and reduce tax evasion.
According to her, the falling oil prices have created additional pressure on the budgets of oil producers like Nigeria.
Regarding monetary policy, the IMF boss tasked African countries with tackling corruption, promoting transparency, and doing the right things that work for their respective economies.
“We are no more in a place where you can look at the book of the central bank of the neighbouring country and say, ‘Oh, they are doing this; I will do the same’.
“You have to really assess domestic resource mobilisation and your inflationary pressures and do the right thing for your country,” she said.
Ms Georgieva, however, advised the continent to deepen regional trade and remove obstacles to regional trading.
Ms Georgieva urged the African continent to take a cue from the Association of South-East Asian Nations in deepening interregional trade and cooperation.
“Sometimes there are infrastructure obstacles; the World Bank is working on reducing that infrastructure obstacle to growth and trade,” she said.
Ms Georgieva added that Africa has much to offer the world, including minerals, natural resources, and the young population.
She recommended that African countries, particularly Nigeria, Egypt, Ghana, and Côte d’Ivoire, continue on the path of strengthening their country’s buffer levels.
“I think a more unified, more collaborative continent can go a long way to becoming an economic powerhouse,” Ms Georgieva said.
The IMF boss also spoke about the direct and indirect impacts of tariffs on most countries on the continent, especially with slow global growth.
According to her, tariffs might not directly impact the countries on the continent, but indirectly, they are quite significant.
(NAN)
