The Director-General, Budget Office of the Federation, Ben Akabueze, has revealed that the agricultural sector of the economy grew by three percent despite the economic downturn fuelled by the recession.
Akabueze, who spoke at the Maiden Edition of Deloitte in Dialogue, tagged: Nigeria Economic Outlook 2018, disclosed this while stating the opportunities available in the 2018 budget for the private sector.
He disclosed that the government is putting in more efforts to further boost the sector, saying: “The agricultural sector is one of the industries that the government is focusing on and it has seen some reasonable growth. Despite the biting recession, the Agricultural sector recorded over three percent growth.” Akabueze said.
He noted that the 2018 budget envisages the development of value chain across 30 different commodities, including transportation, trading, marketing and exploit among others.
Speaking on transportation, the DG called for improvement across the different roads of the federation, noting that this would have a positive effect on the country’s economy. He said “You will not believe the impact of transportation on the economy. The sector is part of what has been holding up the inflation rate. Transportation cost is a significant driver of food cost, which is the reason for the inflation that we have. If we raise some investments in transportation the inflation around food will be lower’’. ‘Sic’
The Director-General advised the Federal Government to collaborate with the private sector to provide the necessary infrastructure, adding that an upsurge in international capital would necessarily boost Nigeria’s infrastructural deficit.
