Reversing FG’s Economic Reforms Will Spell Doom For Nigeria — W/Bank

…Nigeria Needs Consistent Policies To Attract FDIs, Says JP Morgan

ABUJA – The World Bank has urged the Federal Government not to reverse the ongo­ing economic reforms, warning that such a move would be detrimental and would spell doom for Nigeria.

President Bola Tinubu-led admin­istration has implemented significant policies, including the removal of fuel subsidy and the scrapping of multiple foreign exchange systems.

Speaking at the launch of the Ni­geria Development Update (NDU) re­port in Abuja on Thursday, the World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Dr. Ndiame Diop, acknowledged that while these reforms may cause temporary hardship, they are essential for the nation’s long-term stability.

Diop cautioned that “revers­ing these reforms would be det­rimental and would spell doom for Nigeria.”

In support of the reforms, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, em­phasised the Federal Govern­ment’s commitment to main­taining its course.

He stated, “Any effort that is not sustained will be a waste. Together with the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Minister of Budget and National Planning, we’ve been discussing how to stay on course, tackle inflation, and ensure we move in the right direction.”

Edun elaborated that the government aims to reduce in­flation while attracting invest­ments in critical sectors like industry, where job creation is anticipated.

He noted that Nigeria ex­pects significant investments in the coming days.

Nigeria Needs Consistent Policies To Attract FDIs, Says JP Morgan

Meanwhile, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of JP Morgan, Mr. Jamie Dimon, has advised countries, includ­ing Nigeria seeking foreign direct investments (FDIs), to ensure consistency in their regulatory framework and policies.

Dimon who stated this on Wednesday at the 30th Nigerian Economic Summit (NES#30) in Abuja, said to attract invest­ments requires consistent laws, regulations, rules, legislation, and legal environments, to woo foreign investors.

He noted that when these are in place, investors would be attracted because a lot of coun­tries in the legal environment flip back and forth, and the gov­ernment flips back and forth.

The JP Morgan chairman revealed that JP Morgan would double or even triple its invest­ments in the development banks in various countries across the world.

Delving into how to attract investment, Mr. Dimon said, “There’s no mystery about that; you know, capital goes to where it’s taken care of, where people think they can make some money and have a return on the capital in the long run.

“And very often countries, I’m not talking about Nigeria, if they have very inconsistent policies, they don’t want to go there, and the real capital is go­ing to come from companies”.

He added that “I think we in America do a much better job than I call development finance.

“If you look at our devel­opment institutions, we could double, triple that, and I think we should, and as they grow.

“JP Morgan will double, tri­ple our investment in the devel­opment banks, but the real cap­ital is private capital companies around the world that might be sovereign wealth funds, and they want to come here for in­vestment opportunity.

“So to do that, requires con­sistent laws, consistent regula­tions, consistent rules, consis­tent legislation, consistent legal environments, you will get plen­ty of capital here, but it’s got to be consistent, because a lot of countries in the legal environ­ment flip back and forth, and the government flips back and forth.

“People are just afraid to make those investments, and our investment when we try to do it, at least, since I’ve been to JP, we’ve never left the country.

“Once we go we get better and smarter, and then we try to enhance what we do here. But those rules to get capital are pretty basic everywhere”.

JP Morgan, which has been operating in Nigeria since 1960 but opened a representative of­fice in the country in 1982 noted that capital, investments, jobs, among others, are good for a country, and if a company is not financially healthy, it will fall.

He pointed out that regula­tions do not inhibit companies from growing rather good leadership, which encapsulates trust, good administration is re­quired to manage businesses effectively.