The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) has welcomed the executive order that removes import duties, VAT, and excise duty on pharmaceutical raw materials, intermediate products, medical diagnostic equipment, and machinery.
In a statement, the director/CEO of CPPE, Muda Yusuf, emphasized that this policy move is expected to significantly enhance domestic production of these essential products. He highlighted that it will lead to reduced costs of medications, thereby improving access to healthcare for Nigerians.
Yusuf further noted that the executive order will revitalize the pharmaceutical industry in Nigeria, potentially creating more job opportunities as local production scales up to meet demand.
“Fiscal policy measures have much better prospects of addressing supply-side challenges in the economy, if well targeted.
“Boosting production is very vital to fixing the current inflationary pressures, driven largely by supply side challenges in the economy. Fiscal policy measures are potent tools for the realisation of this objective.”
He recommended that these fiscal policy measures should be replicated to boost production in other segments of the real sector.
Yusuf added that “we also need fiscal policy protection to support domestic investments in petroleum refineries to conserve foreign exchange, create jobs, and deepen backward integration.
“There is a groundswell of economic nationalism globally and we should respond by strengthening our domestic production capabilities across all sectors.
“Fiscal policy measures have proven to be more impactful on real sector performance than monetary policy. The real sector of the economy deserves to be effectively protected and incentivized to improve production and ensure sustainability investments in that space.”
He pointed out that the Nigeria economy cannot afford to submit to a regime of complete trade liberalization in the light of the challenges faced by domestic manufacturers, saying “We need to stem the tide of deindustrialization of the Nigerian economy, the exit of foreign direct investors and the rising mortality rate of domestic industries.
“We believe that stepping up fiscal policy interventions would facilitate the realization of this objective. But we must be ready to trade off some revenue in the short term.
“The economy would be better off in the medium to long term, with regard to growth in domestic production, less import dependence, heightened prospects of disinflation, higher job creation and better economic resilience.”
CPPE CEO also said, “The CPPE commends the CBN for scrapping its Price Verification System Portal which was a needless duplication of the functions of the Nigeria Customs Service, and a product of a dysfunctional foreign exchange regime.
“We urge the CBN to sustain its engagement with the private sector for quality, evidence-based feedback on monetary policy outcomes.”
He also noted that, in the spirit of the economic transformation programs of the current administration, it is imperative to ensure the effective implementation of Executive Order 003 which prescribes that preferences must be given to local manufacturers of goods and service providers in the public procurement of goods and services by the MDAs.
He appealed to the presidency to ensure compliance by the MDAs with these executive orders in the spirit of current efforts to boost domestic production, grow domestic talents, and reform the economy.
