Reforms: Purchasing power, businesses still under pressure, CPPE tells FG

•Cautions against policy reversal

Centre for The Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) has called on the Federal Government to translate macro-economic gains into higher productivity,  more jobs and improved living standards, adding that businesses and the purchasing power of the average Nigerian  still remain under pressure.

The centre, in a statement issued by its Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Muda Yusuf,  on Sunday, however, cautioned against reversing the reforms at this stage, saying such action  would be profoundly damaging to the economy.

The Centre noted that while the  government had, through its various reforms, laid important foundations for investment and growth, it however stated that such macro-economic gains should be seen as a means, and not an end itself.

It argued that the results the Federal Government intends to achieve with the reforms, remains incomplete, since those reforms were yet to translate into lower poverty and ameliorate the pains of Nigerians.

“Purchasing power remains under pressure, while businesses continue to contend with high energy, financing, logistics and regulatory costs,” the centre stated.

It therefore, called for the next phase of reform  that would focus more strongly on productivity, competitiveness and household welfare.

CPPE added that while the reforms had significantly expanded the fiscal space of state governments through higher statutory allocations and, in many cases, stronger internally generated revenues, it however believed this should translate to the sub-nationals playing a much larger development role.

The centre therefore urged citizens to begin to demand measurable outcomes in roads, healthcare, public transportation, education, agricultural infrastructure, security, power and enterprise support, from their respective state governments.

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The Centre added that higher revenues must produce a visible development and welfare dividend, rather than being used to simply finance higher recurrent expenditure and prestige projects.

It, however, warned that despite their inadequacies, reversing the reforms would be profoundly damaging to the economy.

“It would undermine investor confidence, weaken fiscal stability, destabilise the foreign-exchange market and reintroduce distortions that the reforms were designed to correct.

“Such a reversal could trigger significant economic dislocations and erode the gains already achieved. The reform trajectory should therefore be sustained, while implementation is continuously refined in response to emerging realities,” it stated.

Instead, the centre called for a continuous recalibration of reform instruments in response to evidence, implementation experience and their impact on businesses and households.