The International Monetary Fund (IMF) wednesday advised Nigeria not to spare any resources in curbing the spread of COVID-19.
IMF’s Director, Africa Department, Mr. Abebe Selassie, said during a media briefing yesterday, to unveil the ‘IMF Regional Economic Outlook for sub Saharan Africa,’ at the ongoing World Bank/IMF Virtual Spring Meetings in Washington, United States, that the Nigerian economy was among those to be hard hit by the pandemic.
He urged the federal and state governments to roll out more fiscal measures to fight the virus, which has continued to spread in the country.
“In the near term, no resources should be spared to put the health crisis threat that Nigeria faces from the COVID-19 pandemic. So, we see scope for more supportive policies on the fiscal side,” he stated.
He added that the federal government has requested for support under the multilateral institution’s Rapid Financing Instrument, which he said was a very quick dispensing resource that the government can use to strengthen health spending to provide social protection to people.
“There is also scope for having an exchange rate policy framework that would be supportive of this fiscal stance. So, we look for those policies to be adopted to support Nigeria to put this crisis behind it,” he said.
