Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, has disclosed that the Federal Government saves a monthly average of N45 billion in monthly interest payments from the implementation of treasury single account (TSA).
At the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Nigeria and The Gambia on TSA, in Abuja, on Tuesday, Ahmed added that it is now also easy to determine aggregate cash balance, which is critical for managing public finances at a time of acute fiscal constraints.
“On the monetary policy side, we have better control over the money supply and therefore able to rein in inflation and undue pressure on the Naira. Our foreign reserve position has also recorded appreciable improvement through the consolidation of the Federal Government foreign currency earnings under the TSA,” she stated.
She said following the successful conclusion of the tour of Nigeria by a delegation in 2019 based on IMF recommendation The Gambia requested for technical co-operation with Nigeria to support its own transition to TSA.
“In a nutshell, the co-operation seeks to avail the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs of The Gambia of the vast knowledge, experience and technical expertise that Nigeria has gained in the past 15 years of implementing TSA in particular and other public financial management (PFM) reforms, in general.
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By so doing, The Gambia is properly guided as it implements its own TSA. The co-operation will enable The Gambia to leverage on the experience of Nigeria to build on our strengths while avoiding our mistakes.”
Ahmed said Nigeria was happy to support The Gambia in its bid to implement TSA and other PFM reforms.
In her response, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance of The Gambia, Ms Ada Gaye, expressed happiness to be in Nigeria to sign the MoU, saying that the tour has helped them to understand the workings of the TSA.
“The Gambia wants to efficiently manage its funds; the fragmentation of accounting systems in The Gambia is huge. It is, therefore, noteworthy for The Gambia to adopt TSA. Though … is still … We are going to create the needed sensitisation to help the people of The Gambia understand the process. Nigeria is the big brother while The Gambia is the small brother. We are happy to cement this brotherly love.”
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