Nigerian Newsday

Nigeria’s external reserves have risen to about $47 billion, the minister of Finance, Dr Shamsudeen Usman has said. He made this known in Washington DC, while briefing journalists at the 2007 World Bank and IMF annual meetings.

The minister attributed the rise to the performance of the Nigerian economy which he said is doing very well, and has recorded an average growth rate of about six percent.

He also said that rising oil prices had considerably contributed to the rise in the country’s external reserves.

The minister however said that "the development poses a number of new threats, especially in terms of macro economics management and fiscal and monetary policies.

Usman said that what we are doing is identifying and dealing with these new threats.

He said "we are also trying to raise the economic growth to a level that is much higher and to make it more sustainable in the long term".

"And to do this, the big challenge for us is how to provide certain basic infrastructure which is lacking in Nigeria especially power", he noted.

Usman further said that the Federal government was looking at various options, including the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) to consolidate the gains of its ongoing economic and institutional reforms.

He said "very soon, we are going to announce the new framework on the PPP options and how it is going to be operated. In addition, we have already been approached by many international investors trying to come in and play some role".

Usman also used the occasion to call for greater voice and representation for developing countries in both the World Bank and the IMF.

The greater voice should come through the quota arrangements. We are calling for at least a tripling of the basic votes for our countries.

Pix Finance Minister, Shamsudeen Usman