Okonjo-Iweala, Sanusi in War of Words over Economy

The "cold war" between Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Co-ordinating minister for the Economy and minister of Finance; and Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have now reached the boiling point as they differ on the volume of foreign direct investment (FDIs) inflows into the country and other serious economic issues.

While Okonjo-Iweala sounded upbeat Monday and claimed that Nigeria attracted over $7 billion in FDI last year; Sanusi , however,  decried the dwindling FDI and warned of adverse consequences because of the steady depletion of the country’s foreign reserves.

But both by virtue of their positions should know the state of the country’s economy or one of them is reading from a different book.

Beating her chest on Monday at the 2014 Budget Breakdown in Abuja, Okonjo-Iweala, claimed that Nigeria earned a princely $7 billion in FDI last year, making her the number one destination for investments in Africa.

She said that some of the important investments include $250 million investments by Procter and Gamble in Ogun State; $40 million in agricultural projects by Dominion Farms in Taraba State; $1.2 billion in fertilizer and petrochemicals by Indorama; a $200 million steel plant by Kam Industries in Ilorin and another $9 billion investment in petrochemicals and refinery complex by the Dangote Group.

But Sanusi, who spoke after the 93rd Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja the following day (Tuesday,  insisted that Nigeria’s foreign reserves and excess crude account are dwindling.

According to him, the CBN had expressed concern over the continued depletion of the Excess Crude Account (ECA), which balance stood at less than $2.5 billion on January 17, 2014 compared with about $11.5 billion in December 2012.

Sanusi said that “This absence of fiscal buffers increased our resilience on portfolio flows thus, constituting the principal risk to exchange stability, especially with uncertainties around capital flows and oil price”