"Prez Tinubu names ex-investment banker as Finance Minister"

" Prez Tinubu names ex-investment banker as Finance Minister \r\n\r\nNigeria\u2019s President Bola Tinubu named Wale Edun, who served as his senior adviser on monetary policy, as finance minister.\r\n\r\nA former chair of Lagos-based investment bank Chapel Hill Denham Group, Edun has played a key role in the West African nation\u2019s market-pleasing moves away from the unorthodox methods of the central bank under its suspended governor Godwin Emefiele.\r\n\r\nNigeria\u2019s dollar bonds due in 2027 erased earlier losses on the news, gaining 0.4 cents to 84.5 cents on the dollar, according to indicative pricing data collected by Bloomberg.\r\n\r\nEdun will be responsible for boosting government revenues, which are among the lowest in the world as a proportion of the economy. That\u2019s essential to help narrow a budget deficit expected to reach 5% of gross domestic product this year while reducing debt service payments, which in 2022 amounted to a staggering 96% of government revenue.\r\n\r\nHis track record is promising. Edun served as commissioner of finance in Nigeria\u2019s commercial capital Lagos between 1999 and 2007, when Tinubu was governor, and was credited with more than doubling the state\u2019s revenues on his watch.\r\n\r\nSince the president\u2019s inauguration on May 29, Tinubu has taken significant steps to repair the country\u2019s fiscal situation. He scrapped a fuel subsidy that had been a long-standing burden on government finances, costing $10 billion last year, and reformed Nigeria\u2019s widely criticized exchange rate system that also sapped revenues.\r\n\r\nThe benefits are already visible. Federal tax collection totaled 1.65 trillion naira ($2.1 billion) in June \u2014 a record for a single month \u2014 and are projected to reach 7.5 trillion naira in the second half, versus 5.5 trillion naira in the previous six months.\r\n\r\nThat will take total tax collection this year to 13 trillion naira compared to 10.1 trillion last year, with the Nigerian authorities projecting revenues will surge to 25 trillion naira in 2024, buoyed by the reforms and improved tax collection.\r\n\r\nS&P Global Ratings on Aug. 4 raised Nigeria\u2019s credit outlook to stable from negative on the basis of the reforms, which have also been welcomed by investors, leading to a rally in bond yields and sending stocks to a 15-year high.\r\n\r\nStill, Africa\u2019s most populous country \u2014 where 40% live in extreme poverty \u2014 faces significant economic challenges amid slow economic growth and the rate of inflation at an almost 18-year high.\r\n\r\nIn addition to picking his finance minister, Tinubu selected 45 other ministers, including seven women. Heineken Lokpobiri was named minister of petroleum and Adebayo Adelabu, a former deputy governor at the Central Bank of Nigeria, will be the minister of power."

"Prez Tinubu names ex-investment banker as Finance Minister"

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