"I cant ascertain when recession will end" says Finance minister.

The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi

Adeosun, has said that she cannot

predict when the nation will get out of

the current economic recession.

She, however, said that some of the

efforts of the government to reflate the

economy had started yielding results.

The minister, who spoke in an interview

in Abuja, stated, “I don’t want to predict

when we will get out of recession. Let

me tell you that we will get into growth

and that’s how you get out of recession,

because of the stimulus that we are

providing.

“And it may take longer than we would

like, but we will definitely get out of it.

We are already seeing some positive

signs in agriculture and solid

minerals;and with what we are trying to

do with other sectors, I am very sure we

will get out of it soon.”

The Governor of Central Bank of

Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, had last

week stated that the country would start

getting out of recession by the fourth

quarter of the year.

He had said, “We are already in the

valley, the only direction is to go up the

hill and the government is doing

everything possible to ensure that we

move up the hill. I am optimistic that

based on the actions being taken by the

monetary and fiscal authorities, the

fourth quarter results will show

evidence that we have started to move

out of recession.

“The worst is over. The Nigerian

economy is on the path of recovery and

growth. So, please if you are a bystander

or sideliner, you are losing; join the

train now before it leaves the station.”

To facilitate the recovery of the

economy from recession, Adeosun said

about N770bn had been channelled into

the economy for various capital projects

this year, adding that the monitoring

team in the Ministry of Budget and

Planning was putting contractors on

their toes to ensure that they delivered

the projects.