The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, LCCI, expressed the view that Nigeria’s exit from recession will impact positively on investor confidence in the country’s economy.
Addressing the media at the briefing - the President of LCCI, Chief Nike Akande, said: “beyond the GDP numbers and the exit from recession, what is paramount is the impact on the cost of doing business, productivity of the investors, competitiveness of firms and the sustainability of investmentsâ€.
He also added that, to the average Nigerian, what mattered most was the effect on their individual or family welfare- particularly on some details as food prices, cost of healthcare, transportation cost, power supply and the purchasing power.
“These are the considerations that would determine the extent of celebration ultimately. Remarkably, the President himself (Muhammadu Buhari) lent credence to this fact when he stated that until coming out of recession translates into meaningful improvement in peoples’ lives, our work cannot be said to be doneâ€, he said.
Meanwhile, the chamber lauded the Nigerian government for the giant strides taken in achieving the exit as well as its intervention in stabilizing the foreign exchange market (forex) to boost manufacturing and provide improved access to forex by SMEs.
He said the chamber believes that with more patronage, “Nigerian manufacturers will be encouraged to improve the quality of their products and become competitive globallyâ€