Adeosun Faults Use Of GDP To Measure Economic Progress, Says It Conceals Inequalities

Nigeria’s Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun has faulted the universal use of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to measure economic progress of the country, which she said often conceals inequalities.
The Minister emphasized that there has been excessive focus on GDP as a measure of economic progress, which often concealed vulnerabilities, particularly inequalities.
Adeosun spoke at a high level G20 Finance Ministers seminar in Paris on Thursday night. The Finance Ministers met to discuss current challenges to the international financial architecture and ways of combating macroeconomic volatility.
The high-level seminar also assessed volatility in capital flows and their impact on global economic conditions.
She noted that the first line of defence is sound macroeconomic policies, which Africa in general and Nigeria specifically, is trying to tackle with a series of fiscal housekeeping initiatives.
Speaking at the opening plenary, the minister highlighted the risks associated with international capital flows and warned that African economies need to be insulated from the disruptive effects of volatile short term portfolio flows.
According to her, Africa can build the necessary resilience, saying that there must be more careful management of capital flows and a move towards long term and sustainable growth.
Minister Adeosun said that an essential component of more careful management of capital flows was to build better economic mapping and surveillance to manage risks and spill-overs, which she said should be a priority for G20 Finance Ministers.
She called for more understanding and flexibility for Africa to grow and protect key markets, as developed countries had done while at Africa’s current stage of development.
She highlighted the need for long term partnerships and foreign direct investment into African economies to deliver the necessary investment, particularly in infrastructure, to unlock sustainable growth.
The meeting which was called by China, the current chairman of the G20, was attended by  Michel Sapin, Minister of Finance and Public Accounts, France; Wolfgang Schäuble, Minister of Finance, Germany; George Osborne – Chancellor of the Exchequer, United Kingdom; Pietro Carlo Padoan, Minister of Economy and Finance, Italy,  Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund; Valdis Dombrovkis, Vice President of the European Commission; Zhou Xiaochuan, the Governor of the People’s Bank of China; François Villeroy de Galhau and Governor of the Banque de France. [myad]