The Director General, West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM), Prof. Akpan Ekpo, has called on finance experts and legislators in Nigeria to embrace modern fiscal policy forecasting strategies, revenue and expenditure models, in order to reposition the nation’s economy for greater growth.

He made this assertion in Lagos in his opening remarks, at the one-day validation workshop on fiscal policy forecasting, revenue and expenditure models, organised by WAIFEM for officials of Ministry of Finance and legislators.

He said the workshop is to help legislators and experts in the Ministry of Finance to gather inputs needed for modern day forecasting and revenue models needed to transform the economy. This he said would help to validate and improve on the existing models of forecasting and revenue generation in the country.

He said, “The existing models in the Ministry of Finance need adjustment to be on track with global trend necessary for rapid economic development and revenue generation techniques.

Forecasting is quite imperative in economic development because it would help the government to tackle the persisting problem of unemployment in the country. Forecasting may not be exact but would be close to expectations in handling the tasks of growing the economy at a larger scale. We must do our best as economic experts to convince the politicians to look at ways they can move the economy forward”

He went on, “The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and National Planning Commission (NPC) have been consistent in putting measures in place to embrace current economic models and forecasting strategies. Other ministries should do the same in order to achieve holistic economic growth and development in all sectors of the economy.”

Also speaking, the lead facilitator, Prof. Michael Nyong, from University of Calabar, who made presentation of models on macro-economics, revenue and forecasting, stressed that Nigeria’s economy needs growth with stability, as well as revenue forecast relevant to tackle fiscal deficit.

He said, “The fiscal authorities in the country adopt a strategy of business as usual and capital expenditure that follows a particular historical trend, which is not boosting revenue generation in non-oil sectors of the economy. The authorities should be cautious of the size of the total expenditure while determining capital expenditure to strike a balance in the system. Doing this would enhance development in non-oil export sector, especially in manufacturing.”