March 6, 2002
Nigeria said today that it was withdrawing from an informal monitoring arrangement with the International Monetary Fund and would aim instead for a home-grown economic program to better serve its people.
A statement from the president's office said the government withdrew from the program "because it values the benefits of political stability, democratic constitution, credibility and accountability."
In a separate and more detailed statement, Finance Minister Adamu Ciroma said Nigeria "does not wish to continue with arrangements where only narrowly defined macro- economic considerations come into play."
Economic analysts said President Olusegun Obasanjo's government had clearly opted in favor of political considerations, at least for now, as it heads for critical elections next year.
An endorsement of Nigeria's economic policies by the International Monetary Fund is critical, though, if Nigeria hopes to win relief on its foreign debt of about $30 billion.
A one-year standby accord between Nigeria and the I.M.F. expired by August of last year but the fund's board effectively approved a technical extension to October. The extension allowed fund officials to evaluate the performance of the economy in the first half of the year and look at Nigeria's policies for the second half.
In that evaluation, the fund criticized the government for what it called excessive spending and sought deep cuts in the capital budget for 2002. Parliament is still struggling to juggle priorities in the 2002 budget after a decrease of more than 40 percent in Nigeria's mainstay oil revenue after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.
At the same time, Mr. Obasanjo has faced attacks at home, even from members of his own party, over his government's inability to end economic stagnation and create jobs for the millions of unemployed. Political analysts have cited unemployment as a major factor in spiraling political and religious violence that has killed well over 3,000 people since Mr. Obasanjo took office nearly three years ago. There are growing signs that Mr. Obasanjo will seek re-election next year.
Mr. Ciroma listed what he termed clear achievements in the period since Mr. Obasanjo took over an economy wrecked by 15 years of corrupt military rule — a factor he implied the I.M.F. evaluation had ignored. "Between 2000 and 2001 real G.D.P. grew at a faster pace than at any time since 1991," he said.
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