Corona Virus Has Affected Global Supply Chains, Demand For Goods And Services- Emefiele

Oru Leonard

The Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele has said that the impact of the corona virus across over 100 countries, has affected global supply chains, as well as demand for goods and services.

Mr Emefiele stated this at Abuja on Wednesday, March 11, during the second consultative “Going for Growth” Roundtable Session, hosted at CBN Auditorium.

He acknowledged that inputs received from key private sector stakeholders during the first roundtable session held in June 2019 at Lagos, on ways in which we could promote greater economic growth for Nigeria, contributed to the successes we recorded in improving access to credit for Nigerians in 2019.

“I note with delight that some of the recommendations at the 1st session have been implemented by the CBN, and these have
contributed to the successes we recorded in improving access to credit for Nigerians in 2019.

“Following the success of the 1st session, the management of the Central Bank of Nigeria decided to convene a second session in Abuja, working in partnership with key stakeholders in the public sector. I therefore have no doubt in my mind that with the caliber of people from both the public and private sector gathered here today, we would make the desired progress in generating ideas and solutions that will enable greater growth and development of the Nigerian economy”, he said

He noted that the purpose of the Roundtable Session was to address domestic and external challenges to growth by getting views from critical stakeholders who can generate great, workable ideas and solutions.

He urged stakeholders to work together in order to harness the true potential of the country as he expressed hope that the one-day roundtable session will address some of the measures needed to drive double digital growth rate in Nigeria, which includes, improving productivity in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors. He also advised the roundtable session to develop funding models that would support improvements in the quality of our energy and transport infrastructure. He also charged stakeholders to evolve how Nigerians operating in the creative industries space, such as ICT, can expand and capture the value of their works, while creating jobs and generating export revenues for our nation.

“The findings generated from the roundtable session, will be presented to the President at a dinner session later today. I encourage all of us to provide our inputs, as these will be vital in guiding the fiscal and monetary authorities on measures that could help in supporting greater growth of the Nigerian economy” , he added

He said that the second edition is relevant to the Corona virus challenges and its attendant consequence on the economy.