Buhari Backs Osinbajo On Need For Synergy, Rewane Supports VP’S Views On Forex

One day after, President Muhammadu Buhari has thrown his weight behind his deputy, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (SAN)’s call for synergy between fiscal and monetary sides of policy making in the interest of the nation and in order to build a resilient economy.

In a similar vein, well known economist Bismark Rewane also declared that Prof. Osinbajo was right when he called yesterday for a market reflective exchange rate describing the current official rate as artificially low.

It would be recalled that during his opening remarks at the opening of a two-day Mid-Term Ministerial Performance Review Retreat organised to assess progress made towards the achievement of the nine key priorities of the Buhari administration, Osinbajo called for the need for synergy between the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the monetary side and the ministries, departments, and agencies of government on the fiscal side.

The Vice President said “There must be synergy between the fiscal and the monetary authority. We must be able to deal with the synergy; we must handle the synergy between the monetary authority, the CBN, and the fiscal side.”

“Sometimes, it appears that there is competition, especially on the fiscal side. If you look at some of the interventions, you will find that those interventions are interventions that should be managed by ministries.

“The ministry of industry, trade and investment should handle MSMEs interventions, and we should know what the CBN is doing. In other words, if the CBN is intervening in the MSME sector, it should be with the full cooperation and consent of the ministry of industry.

“Sometimes you will get people who are benefiting more than once because we simply have no line of sight on what is going on, on one side,” the VP explained.

Speaking at the end of the Retreat on Tuesday the President in backing the Vice President “stressed the need for synergy between the fiscal and monetary authorities in the country to keep the economy on the trajectory of growth,” according to a statement by his Spokesman Femi Adesina.

The Presidential statement added “Underscoring the need for synergy between the fiscal and monetary authorities, the President assured Nigerians that this Administration will continue to implement fiscal measures to improve domestic revenues and mobilize external funding support to build a more resilient economy.”

Speaking later on Tuesday evening on Channels TV’s Politics Today, Mr. Rewane also threw his weight behind the VP’s position on the CBN’s forex policy.

When asked by the TV Host Seun Okinbaloye on his views on the seeming controversy Rewane said “first and foremost let me be clear that what the vice president said was absolutely correct in the sense that no currency … is managed on a fixed rate basis…it means that the market has market value and what is called the official value.”

He added that when the president also said the goal is to have a strong and resilient economy, “some people mistake a strong currency for a strong economy, no. The truth is that a strong economy leads to a strong currency.”