Thursday, March 14, 2013

Mercurial Finance Minister

by Eze Eluchie

Those who have wondered why I always refer to Nigeria’s Finance Minister and one time contestant to the Office of President of the World Bank as ‘mercurial’ only need to listen to Madam Minister reel out financial statistics and data with her sulkily refined command of the English Language.

One almost feels like throwing caution to the winds and dancing wildly in drunken stupor when the mercurial lady begins her usual swagger of: “Inflation is now down to single-digit at 9.0 per cent in January 2013, compared with 12.6 per cent in January 2012. The exchange rate has been relatively stable, and the fiscal deficit at just under 2 per cent of GDP is on a downward trajectory, and below our threshold of 3 per cent of GDP.

“Our national debt is at a sustainable level at about 19.4 per cent of GDP. Overall, GDP growth for 2012 was 6.5 per cent, and projected at 6.75 per cent for 2013, compared with the projected global growth of 3.5 per cent.”

By the time Madam is done and you realize that the lives of over 150 million Nigerians mirrors abject poverty at its worst and that all the econometric brouhaha arabadada was only  to confuse and manipulate a hapless population, and that the Naira in your pocket is worth far less than it was at the beginig of madams tenure, it becomes clear that, truly, we have a mercurial smooth operator heading our nations Finance Ministry.




http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/presidency-finance-ministry-insist-economy-is-strong/140796/#.US969v_zOxY.facebook


Picture: Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala


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