The 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar says the economy is in deeper trouble than the current administration is willing to admit.
He said this in a Tuesday statement he personally signed, while reacting to the Federal Government’s planned borrowing of N11 trillion to finance the 2023 budget.
The former vice president recalled that last week the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released the GDP figures for Q2 2022.
He said that the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led government has been “unreasonably upbeat” about the reported growth rate of 3.4%.
“The plain truth is that the economy is in deeper trouble than the APC-led government is willing to admit,” Atiku said.
According to him, the citizens’ level of misery hasn’t changed under the APC government.
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“And the reasons are obvious: first, the key sectors of the economy, notably agriculture, oil and gas (the country’s cash cow) and manufacturing (that contributes to jobs), are either growing slowly or declining.
“Second, unabated are rising commodity prices occasioned by high energy and transportation costs (and aggravated by the disorderliness in the fx market).
“Also, debt levels continue to rise while the fiscal capacity to service its debts is declining. All these are enough to erase the perceived gains from output growth,” the presidential candidate said.
Atiku stated that “having run out of ideas, it appears that our unprecedented level of indebtedness is whetting the government’s appetite for more debt. This is a recipe for macroeconomic instability”.
He challenged the National Bureau of Statistics to share with the public their recent statistics on poverty, unemployment and commodity prices, noting that the reality “will leave no hope for the common man.
“Like I have said before, increasing debts will never be a solution to our indebtedness.”
He said that if elected in 2023, his government would halt the rate of debt accumulation and instead focus on private-public partnerships in financing development.
“Also is the consideration of a government of national unity that will douse the temperature, unite Nigerians and pave the way for improved security.
“Improved security allows for investments and, therefore, an improved economy. Also targeted tax rebates to attract foreign and local investments, amongst other proactive measures to attract investments to grow the economy,” Atiku said.
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