WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2010-04-05 Time: 14:00:02 Posted By: News Poster
By Kingsley Ighomwenghian
Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, on Saturday expressed fears that the 2010 budget, which harmonised version is to be signed this week may fail owing to unrealistic benchmark assumptions.
In the Appropriation Bill passed by both arms of the National Assembly awaiting Presidential assent, the government is to spend N4.61trillion as part of efforts, representing a 13.3 per cent rise over the original N4.097 trillion.
The harmonised figure also pushed the deficit to N1.521 trillion, representing about five to six per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The budget is also premised on an oil price benchmark of $67 per barrel and output of 2.35 million barrels per day, up by 13 per cent from the proposed 2.088 million barrels per day.
Fielding questions from a panel on a live programme on Channels Television monitored in Lagos, the CBN governor argued that the oil price and production benchmarks are unrealistic.
Sanusi also announced plans to release rules that would guide margin lending between banks and stockbrokers/investors by the CBN in collaboration with capital market regulators within the next three weeks.
Margin lending he said, is a normal phenomenon in the global investment market, hence the need to set rules that would govern the practice.
The crude oil production level, according to him, may not be attained because of the likelihood of the oil cartel – the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) – reducing Nigeria’s output level. This, he continued, would be based on the fact that oil wells in Iraq would begin production this year, hence the need to reduce output of other member nations to accommodate the Arabian nation – another major producer of crude in the international oil market.
As a way out, he urged the country’s economic managers to use a significant part of the products to hedge against likely risks, a move that has been adopted by Mexico, an oil-producing country.
He, however, charged civil society groups to raise the level of discourse, holding public officials accountable, noting that even when the Finance Minister gets approval to release money meant to construct a particular road, for example, and it is not done, it should not be the fault of the Minister.
Sanusi spoke of the need to create an alternative to the banking industry for the sourcing of the much-needed financing by the broad spectrum of economic players, hence the need to strengthen the capital market, particularly the bond market.
Some measure of success has been achieved, he said, with the tax waivers obtained from the government for those who buy corporate bonds, a situation that would encourage improved patronage, with the potential of forcing down rates.
This alternative source of funds, he added, is necessary to break the monopoly that the banks have become, such that when large corporate organisations source funds through the bonds market, others in the small and middle levels would now have access to bank funds at relatively lower rates than currently obtains.
He admitted that the rates remain high because of the cost of operating in the industry, including the fact that the banks have to run their branches across the country on diesel generators and provide security at exorbitant costs, among others. This cost of doing business, he believes, can be significantly reduced by the operators sharing some cost components among themselves.
Original date published: 3 April 2010
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201004050574.html?viewall=1