Twenty-four hours after taking office as Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the economy, Wale Edun has hinted that the government aims to manage the amount of money circulating in the economy in order to keep inflation at a desirable and stable level.
Edun made this known in Abuja on Tuesday, August 22, at the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting.
At the meeting which he chaired, Edun advised FAAC members that “there should be discipline in money supply to control inflation in the nation’s economy.”
Emphasizing discipline in money supply, the finance minister referred to the need to carefully regulate the creation and circulation of money in the economy.
On the monetary side, he said this could involve controlling the growth of the money supply through various measures, such as adjusting interest rates, open market operations, or setting reserve requirements for banks.
On the Fiscal side, Edun said caution will be required on how the federal, state and local governments disburse and spend money.
According to him, by maintaining discipline in the money supply, the government aims to keep inflation within a target range that is conducive to stable economic growth and price stability.
The finance minister also noted that there was a need for government to mobilise resources to deliver on its mandate to increase employment and reduce poverty.
He said that N966.110 billion will be shared to the three tiers of government as Federation Allocation for the month of July 2023.
This amount was shared from total gross revenue of N1.746 trillion.
The FAAC meeting ended with the announcement of a total distributable revenue of N966.110 billion. This amount was made up of distributable statutory revenue of N397.419 billion, distributable Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue of N271.947 billion, Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) revenue of N12.840 billion, and Exchange Difference revenue of N283.904 billion.
For the month of July 2023, the total deductions for the cost of collection came to N62.419 billion, while the total deductions for savings, transfers, refunds, and tax credit cancellation amounted to N717.962 billion. As of now, the Excess Crude Account (ECA) holds a balance of $473,754.57.