I am going to do the usual quick tour of the world economy. I am going to start with the U.S. In the U.S., private demand continues to be strong. On the assumption that fiscal accidents are avoided, which is the underlying assumption of our forecast, recovery should strengthen. Growth will be higher next year than it is this year. It is, therefore, time to make plans for exit from both quantitative easing and zero policy rates, although it is not time yet to implement these plans.

The political logjam in the United States which has forced partial government shutdown over refusal of the legislature to review the debt ceiling of the Barack Obama government will directly affect Nigeria’s economy, unless the crisis is resolved immediately.

THE Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are exploring means to harness and turn the potentials of the insurance industry into economic growth for the country.

*Says subsidy is double evil *‘Capitalism has failed’
It is difficult to speak about the Manufacturers’ Association of Nigeria without mentioning Chief Romeo Baberopoulous, the organization’s earstwhile Exports Group chairman. Yet, since his falling in love with Nigeria 50 years ago when he relocated from his home Greece, it is safe to say that Baberopoulos has had more hands-on participation in the manufacturing sector of the country than any other industrialist still producing. One would be hard pressed to find, either, a Nigerian manufacturer more interested in the development of industry in the social sector as this immigrant.