Non-oil sector contributes 65% to economy

The Federal Government yesterday said the non-oil sector contributes 65 per cent to the economy despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Mr. Prince Agba, stated this during the fourth National Treasury Workshop organised by the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation in Uyo, the Akwa State capital.

Agba said the country was no longer operating a mono-economy as the contributions of the non-oil sector both headline and food inflations have continued to trend down with huge success.

He said: “COVID-19, which started as heath pandemic, snowballed into economic pandemic, so, to accelerate quick recovery of the economy, we develop some strategies which include; national stimulus economic package, mobilisation of external support and funding and increase in non-oil revenue generation.

“These were aimed at retaining and creating jobs, increasing our productivity ensuring social stability and addressing long-standing economic vulnerabilities.

“Thus, the impact of COVID-19 and dwindling revenue from oil, in spite of these, we will continue to expand government policies to cushion the effect with a total estimated stimulus package by the Federal Government of Nigeria of N2.3 trillion.’’

“We took steps to increase our non-oil revenue generation. These steps included but not limited to VAT reforms in the Finance Act 2020, customs administration enhancement, tax exemption, increased remittances and recovery of remitted revenue from government own enterprises.

“Increase revenue from cross-border transaction, among others. As a result of these measures and the incentives placed by this government, both health and economic data have continued to witness positive trajectory, despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 5.01 per cent year-on-year in real time in the second quarter and 4.03per cent in the third quarter of 2021.

“The second quarter and third quarter growth rates were higher than the -6.10 per cent decline recorded in quarter two of 2020 and 0.51per cent growth recorded in quarter one of 2021 year-on-year indicating the return of business activities.

“Headline inflation has continued to trend down for the seventh consecutive months from 18.7per cent in March 2021 to 15.911per cent in October 2021.

“Food inflation has also continued to go down in the last seven months after peaking in March 2021 at 22.91 per cent to 18.39 per cent in October 2021.

“The government is poised on attracting and supporting foreign and direct investment, and creating enabling environment for businesses to thrive by eliminating the barriers,” he added.

Also, the Account-General of the Federation, Mr Ahmed Idris noted that the Federal Government in its drive to rejig the economic growth has been making genuine policies to accommodate all sectors of the economy.

The State Governor, Mr Udom Emmanuel commended the Federal Government for gathering professionals across the country to brainstorm on way of improving the economy.