The Federal Government has announced that Nigeria is now saving about N45 billion monthly in interest payments, since the implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA).
This disclosure was made by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, on the occasion of the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on TSA with the Republic of The Gambia in Abuja yesterday.
The Minister said that among other verifiable benefits, Nigeria could now easily determine its aggregate cash balance, which is critical for managing public finances at a time of acute fiscal constraints.
She stated, “On the monetary policy side, we have better control over the money supply and therefore able to rein in inflation and undue pressure on the Naira. Our foreign reserve position has also recorded appreciable improvement through the consolidation of the federal government foreign currency earnings under the TSA.’’
While speaking, Ahmed recalled the last visit by The Gambia in May 2019, when based on the recommendation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), it paid a visit to Nigeria for a week-long study tour of TSA implementation.
According to her, “Following the successful conclusion of the tour, The Gambia requested for technical co-operation with Nigeria to support its own transition to TSA. To that aim, representatives of both countries worked on an MoU detailing the terms and scope of the co-operation.”
Going further, she said, “In a nutshell, the co-operation seeks to avail the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs of The Gambia of the vast knowledge, experience, and technical expertise that Nigeria has gained in the past 15 years of implementing TSA in particular and other public financial management (PFM) reforms in general. By so doing, The Gambia is properly guided as it implements its own TSA. The cooperation will enable The Gambia to leverage on the experience of Nigeria to build on our strengths while avoiding our mistakes.”
In her words, “We are happy to support The Gambia in their bid to implement TSA and other PFM reforms. We are also open to supporting other African countries who may want to build on our experience and significant progress in TSA implementation. It is our belief that African countries are better off learning from each other and supporting each other because of our shared culture and history.”
She pointed out that the importance of the synergy between the fiscal and monetary authorities cannot be overemphasized, in addition to the co-operation of other stakeholders, the parliament, the ministries, departments and agencies of government, the banks and service providers.
In their response, Ms Ada Gaye, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance of The Gambia, on behalf of the delegation, expressed their happiness to be in Nigeria to sign the MoU, saying that the tour has helped them to understand the workings of the TSA.
She said, “The Gambia wants to efficiently manage its funds, as the fragmentation of accounting systems in The Gambia is huge. It is, therefore, noteworthy for The Gambia to adopt TSA. We are going to create the needed sensitisation to help the people of The Gambia understand the process. Nigeria is the big brother, while The Gambia is the small brother. We are happy to cement this brotherly love.”
The Treasury Single Account which was proposed by the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan and fully implemented by the Buhari administration, is a financial policy that seeks to consolidate all inflows from all agencies of government into a single account of the Central Bank of Nigeria
