Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Ikanade Agba, has inaugurated a Technical Working Group (TWG) on Macroeconomic Framework and Growth Diagnostics for the Development of Nigeria Agenda 2050 and the Medium Term National Development Plan (MTNDP 2021-2025).Inaugurating the group today, May 4, through a virtual forum, the Minister said that the initiatives were designed to succeed the current Nigeria Vision 20:2020 and the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP 2017 – 2020) respectively.
He said that the framework would address development challenges in all aspects of the country’s national life within the agreed time horizon.
Prince Agba said that inauguration of the group became imperative given the fact that the existing plans were expected to lapse in December 2020 and the 2021 Budget was to be guided by the Framework.
“Therefore, there is limited time to deliver on the task at hand,” he said, adding that in selecting members of the Group who were drawn from relevant ministries, parastatals and the private sector, individual wealth of experience, expertise and dedication to national assignment over the years were considered.
The Group has the following terms of reference: prepare a robust and broad-based Macroeconomic Framework to facilitate the development of the Nigeria Agenda 2050 and Medium Term National Development Plan (MTNDP 2020-2025); improve on the work of the technical staff of the Ministry with necessary adjustments; and, consider existing macroeconomic models for the Nigerian economy, identify and employ the right model or a mix of models for the preparation of the Macroeconomic framework.
The Group is also expected to conduct proper growth diagnostics on the Nigerian economy, taking into consideration the current and future global and local economic peculiarities; review the assumptions, parameters and forecasts used for previous macroeconomic frameworks that guided the Medium Term Plans and Annual Budgets and make necessary adjustments in line with current realities; consult relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies for the needed data and validate the ones collated by the Ministry, among others.
