The All Progressive Congress (APC) National Leader, Chief Bola Tinubu, on Sunday urged the Central Bank of Nigeria to reduce interest rates to avoid stifling domestic investment and income during COVID-19 crisis.
Tinubu made the call in a statement in Lagos.
The APC leader said that the reduction would make the COVID-19 crisis to have a positive economic aspect.
He advised the Federal Government to avail tax reliefs that would aid financial institutions to reduce interest rates.
He said that by driving down the interest rates, the government would be saving the nation from a monumental drag on economic growth.
While noting that lower rates may have some negative short-term impact on inflation and exchange rate, Tinubu said that economic dislocations caused by new coronavirus would serve to mitigate those temporary negative consequences.
“Lower rates will increase domestic investment and production as well as create jobs.
“Undue rates penalise domestic investment and consumer borrowing. This reduces both aggregate domestic supply and, to a lesser degree, aggregate domestic demand.
“High interest rates are a fundamental drag on national economic growth.
“Lower rates will spur domestic investment and production. This creates both jobs and wealth,” Tinubu, a former Governor of Lagos State, said.
He said that high rates would serve only to suppress the vital factors.
“If there is a time to reduce interest rates, that time is now,” he said.
Tinubu said that the world understood the imperative of lower interest rates.
“We should not pretend to be blind to that which every other major nation sees.
“If this crisis is to have any positive economic aspect, let it be that we used this moment to drive down interest rates.
“To apply the rate reduction only to future loans would be prejudicial to current bank debtors.”
The APC leader urged that banks must also reduce high interest rates on existing business loans.
“This can be achieved through regulations requiring banks to automatically roll over existing loans at the lower rate if the borrower so requests,” he said (NAN)
YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
Buy and read digital replicas of your TRIBUNE titles by subscribing through E-VENDING
Clarence Peters Invited For Questioning Over Dancer, Kodak’s Death
Popular video director, Clarence Peters, Tribune Online gathered, has been invited for questioning by the Lagos State Police Command, over the death of dancer, Love Divine, popularly known as Kodak, who was electrocuted in his studio. Kodak, who is a popular dancer within the Nigerian music scene, allegedly died of… Read full story
MONDAY LINES: Death And Dying Emirs
DYING is nothing; choosing the right time to die, if we can, means a whole lot. This coronavirus season is a very wrong time to go – undisturbed. You die now, you leave importunate questions blowing in the air. The Emir of Kaura-Namoda in Zamfara State died on Sunday morning. Was he a victim of COVID-19, the current… Read full story
EDITORIAL: The Kano Mass Deaths
AMID the ongoing efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic in the country, a strange cloud has enveloped Kano State. In the last three weeks, the state has witnessed massive deaths of people in very controversial circumstances. The deaths first became public knowledge following the release of a video clip… Read full story
JAMB Remits N3.5 Billion To FG For 2020
THE Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has made an interim remittance of N3.5 billion to the Federal Government consolidated account for 2020. This is in addition to more than N3.5 billion paid to candidates as reduction of cost of ePIN as directed by President Muhammadu Buhari… Read full story
CBN, Bankers’ Committee Suspend Lay-Offs In Banks
A special meeting of the Bankers’ Committee was convened on Saturday, to further review the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Nigerian banking industry a statement from Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) disclosed on Sunday… Read full story
Court Shuts Church Indefinitely In Abuja Over Lockdown Violation, As Pastor, Others Evade Arrest
A mobile court sitting in Jabi, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, on Sunday, ordered for an indefinite closure of The Shekinah Glory Church, located opposite the popular Citec Estate, Jabi, for violating lockdown… Read full story
COVID-19: 50 Almajiris From Kano Brought To Kaduna Tested Positive ― El-Rufai
Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has said that 15 more almajiris that were brought from Kano to Kaduna have tested positive for COVID-19. This was even as he confirmed that the number of almajiris tested… Read full story
Remdesivir: What The NAFDAC DG Said
In a report entitled “COVID-19: We are not likely to use Ebola drug for patients — NAFDAC” published in the Sunday Tribune edition, we quoted the Director-General of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, as saying that remdesivir, the drug approved by… Read full story
Abducted Twins Of Oyo Cleric, Akeugbagold, Released After £100,000 Ransom Negotiation
After eight days of dwelling in the bush with their abductors, the twins of former Chairman of the Oyo State Pilgrims Welfare Board (Muslim wing), Taofeek Akeugbagold were released at about 5.30 am on Sunday. The twins were picked near the bush at around Mufutau Laninhun College of Education area on the Lagos-Ibadan… Read full story
Leading With Presence — 2
COVID-19 has changed the world and the way we do things. The changes it has brought upon humanity will be our new norm for some time to come. It is as if it was what the world needed to remind us that the only constant thing about life is change. Social distancing means we make less physical contacts… Read full story
Things That Won’t Change Post COVID-19 (Part 3)
This is the third piece I am penning on this life-changing subject that has started helping a lot of people in Nigeria and beyond. So far, I have written on three non-negotiable values that will not change post COVID-19: vision, loyalty and confidentiality. The fourth value I am writing on is that of assiduousness and… Read full story
Reflections On The Post-Coronavirus International Economic Order
THE novel coronavirus pandemic has been the biggest global economic shock since the 1929 Wall Street Crash. In fact, its ramifications might be even bigger, given that, unlike the 1929 crash, our world is today an integrated global marketplace… Read full story
and then