Unless the country, as a deliberate action, comes up with a monetary policy to support businesses, the efforts of the present government to rescue the economic situation will be fruitless.
The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, made this declaration on Tuesday at the Stakeholders Roundtable held at the National Assembly complex in Abuja.
The Senate President said much as the legislative arm of government appreciated the economic complexities that determine interest rate regimes among other things, unless businesses were able to survive, inflation and all other market conditions alone would not make the difference.
“It is inconceivable that businesses anywhere can survive on a 25-30% interest rate regime. How can an investor anywhere survive on these rates? How can they create jobs and make returns? But this is the situation our businesses currently live with.
“The Senate fully appreciates the economic complexities that determine interest rate regimes. It fully recognizes that high inflation times call for interest rate hikes and such other arguments. But unless businesses are able to survive, inflation and all other market conditions alone will not make the difference.
“We must as a matter of deliberate policy frame our monetary policy regime towards support for businesses otherwise our economy rescue mission may not be attained.
“It will be profoundly improbable to genuine businesses like agriculture, production and solid minerals to survive on interest rate regime of 30%.
“A 25-30% interest rate regime is a yoke too hard to bear for any real sector business. Our businesses need a breather. I am a firm believer that unless we are ready to think outside of the box and task ourselves to make sacrifices and take hard decisions with a view to the future we will not make much progress.
“These people; the SME’s are the reason we are gathered here. These entrepreneurs employ 88% of our work force. They have demanded and we should find a means to give them a new interest rate. If we don’t, we will all be poorer for it. If we are able to, we will all ultimately benefit.”
Saraki spoke on the commitment of the National Assembly towards the task of improving the economy.
He said the efforts by the National Assembly were made against the backdrop of the belief that peace and the unity of the country would be elusive unless the opportunities for creating wealth and improve the standard of living were expanded.
These efforts of the National Assembly were made, according to him, towards achieving the creation of a new framework for the infrastructure market by expanding the opportunity for private sector in the market.
He added that the efforts were also geared towards expanding access to finance and working on reviewing market rules to meet international best practices.
“We are doing all of these through some of the bills we are passing into law,” he said.
Others are the Companies and Allied Matters Act Amendment; the Secure Transactions in Movable Assets Bill; the Independent Warehouse Regulatory Bill; the Bankruptcy & Insolvency Act (Repeal & re-enactment) Bill; the Electronic Transactions Bill and the Nigerian Postal Commission Bill.
He said with all the bills, the National Assembly believed that the nation would attract more investments.
He added that more jobs would be created in the market, business development would be promoted and the range of possibilities would be widened.
Also, he said, there would be opportunities for the teeming youthful population.
