Renowned economist, Bismarck Rewane, says Nigerians are not interested in budgetary figures if the prices of basic commodities like rice, bread, and garri don’t go down.
During a live appearance on Channels Television’s Business Morning show on Thursday, Bismarck Rewane, the Managing Director of Financial Derivatives Company Limited, conveyed this information.
He said, “In the end, budgetary arithmetics, budgetary mathematics in economics is of no use to anybody except when by this time, six months’ time if we are buying rice at N40,000 a bag rather than N60,000 a bag, if we are buying bread N900 a big loaf instead of N1,300 which we are doing today. If we are buying garri at lower prices.
“The people are not interested in whether the budget is balanced and what the debt is. How does it (the budget) affect their day-to-day livelihood? That is the key thing.”
During his inaugural budget presentation before the National Assembly on Wednesday, President Bola Tinubu outlined that the proposed N27.5 trillion budget for 2024 aims to achieve macro-economic stability, poverty reduction, and increased access to social security, among other objectives.
He emphasized key focus areas including security, local job creation, macro-economic stability, optimization of the investment environment, human capital development, poverty reduction, and social security.
Breaking down the budget estimates, the President allocated recurrent non-debit expenditure at N9.92 trillion, capital expenditure at N8.73 trillion, debt service at N8.25 trillion, revenue at N18.32 trillion, new borrowings at N7.83 trillion, and a deficit at N9.18 trillion.
‘Poverty Increasing Mental Health Issues’
Analyzing the budget proposal, Rewane pointed out that, ultimately, people are less concerned with figures and more interested in experiencing the tangible impact of the government’s economic policies, especially considering the widespread pressure many individuals are currently facing.
“And as you know, prices are up and people are under tremendous pressure,” he said, adding that the rate of poverty in the country is driving people mad.”
“You will notice that on the streets of Lagos in particular, the number of lunatics has increased and part of it is driven by poverty. Many mental health issues. People are pushed to the wall. Some of them walk across the road even in moving traffic.”
“People need to feel the impact. the impact is not going to be felt because of 10 or 12% of GDP, that is N27trn; it has to be more. Where is the more going to come from? It’s going to come from investors and investors are going to come here when they are sure that their money is safe and the environment is clean, and they can look forward to a brighter future.”
The economist said the government must be honest with Nigerians on the economic realities, saying that “honesty is in short supply”.
According to him, people cannot start pretending to be happy. “You can fake news but you can’t fake prosperity,” he said.