Nigerians Uninterested In Budgetary Arithmetic If Bread, Rice Prices Don’t Decrease — Rewane
The economist said Nigerians are under intense economic pressure, adding that the rate of poverty in the country is increasing mental health cases.
Renowned economist, Bismarck Rewane, says Nigerians are not interested in budgetary figures if the prices of basic commodities like rice, bread, and Garri don’t go down.
Rewane, the Managing Director of Financial Derivatives Company Limited, made this known on Thursday during a live appearance.
He said, “Ultimately, the arithmetic of budgeting and economics isn’t useful to anyone unless, in six months’ time, we are able to buy rice at N40,000 per bag instead of its current price of N60,000 per bag, purchase a large loaf of bread for less than N1,300, and buy Garri at a lower price.”
“The people are not interested in whether the budget is balanced and what the debt is. How does it (the budget) affect their day-to-day livelihood? That is the key thing.” At his maiden budget presentation before the National Assembly on Wednesday, President Bola Tinubu said the proposed N27.5trn 2024 budget will ensure micro-economic stability, poverty reduction, and greater access to social security, amongst others.
He said, “In the end, budgetary arithmetic, budgetary mathematics in economics is of no use to anybody except when by this time, six months’ time if we are buying rice at N40,000 a bag rather than N60,000 a bag if we are buying bread N900 a big loaf instead of N1,300 which we are doing today. If we are buying Garri at lower prices. “The people are not interested in whether the budget is balanced and what the debt is. How does it (the budget) affect their day-to-day livelihood? That is the key thing.”
At his maiden budget presentation before the National Assembly on Wednesday, President Bola Tinubu said the proposed N27.5trn 2024 budget will ensure micro-economic stability, poverty reduction, and greater access to social security, amongst others.
He highlighted priority areas such as security, local job creation, macro-economic stability, investment environment optimization, human capital development, poverty reduction, and social security.
Giving a breakdown of the budget estimates, the President fixed recurrent non-debit expenditure at N9.92trn, capital expenditure at N8.73trn, debt service at N8.25trn, revenue at N18.32trn, new borrowings at N7.83trn and deficit at N9.18trn.
‘Poverty Increasing Mental Health Issues’
According to Rewane, the budget proposal analysis showed that people are more concerned about feeling the impact of the government’s economic policies rather than just numbers. He also highlighted that due to the high prices and inflation, many people are under severe pressure, and the increasing poverty rate in the country is driving people mad. Rewane further explained that the number of lunatics on the streets of Lagos has increased, and poverty is one of the reasons behind it. People are facing mental health issues, and some of them even walk across the road in moving traffic as they are pushed to the wall.
The impact of the economy needs to be felt by the people, but the current 10-12% GDP (N27trn) isn’t enough. To attract further investment, the government needs to ensure a safe and clean environment, and a promising future. The economist believes that the government should be honest with Nigerians about the current economic reality, as honesty is currently lacking. People cannot pretend to be happy, and prosperity cannot be faked like news.
