Make your economy attractive to stop brain drain – IMF
The International Monetary Fund has advised African countries to make their economies attractive if the mass migration of its youth population is to stop.
Director African Department of the IMF, Mr. Abebe Selassie, who said this during the unveiling of the Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Economic Outlook added that policy makers in the continent need to implement reforms that will open-up young people to opportunities.
On a daily basis, both young and old Nigerians continue to emigrate to Europe and America as they seek greener pastures.
Analysts say those that are supposed to develop their various countries are running away to other countries.
HE said: “I think ultimately, it’s making sure that our economies are as attractive, as robust as possible. And that goes back to the point I was making earlier that the reforms that we need to do are not so much for attracting businesses from outside but making it possible for our people to flourish, to do the best and to get the best out of it.
“Second, yes, it is a drain, but I think we also need to see ways in which we can have people outside the continent contributing back to the continent.
“So, even if you cannot stop them from leaving because they have better opportunities outside. But once they’re outside, I think finding ways in which they can continue to contribute, of course, how important remittances are for our countries right now, but also finding ways in which you can attract more investment perhaps is also another way that we can work on once people have left the continent,” he said.
Abebe added that Nigeria’s debt pressures was the government’s inability to generate enough tax revenues.
With oil revenues on the downward trend due partly to massive oil theft and pipeline vandalism, the federal government is forced to use over 90 per cent of its revenue for debt servicing.
“I think that is the key issue and the one that needs to be worked on. Why is there not enough tax revenue? I think in the past, there was over-reliance on oil, and that was when prices were high. Second, of course, also the subsidy regime, which also implies, entails, quite a lot of loss of government resources being directed where they perhaps should not be.
So, I think these are all interlinked issues, including causing some of the inflation that you’re seeing, because, given the difficulty of tapping international capital markets, the government has had to rely more on domestic financing, which has either crowded out the private sector or of course caused the monetary injection, which again has weakened the exchange rate.
So, you have a medley of things mainly rooted in the fiscal challenges that Nigeria has faced, not having tax revenues. At the same time, this is a country with incredible potential,” he said.
