…President Bola Tinubu recently signed the Executive Order to introduce zero tariffs, excise duties, and VAT on specialized machinery, equipment and pharmaceutical raw materials to boost local production of essential healthcare products.
MON JULY 01 2024-theGBJournal| The recent Executive Order on pharmaceutical imports have been hailed by the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) as an attractive prospect for the pharmaceutical sector.
The Centre highlighted the positive impacts of the policy which removed import duties, VAT, Excise duty on pharmaceutical raw materials, intermediate products, medical diagnostic equipment and machineries could have on the sector and the economy in general.
”These fiscal policy measures would boost domestic production of pharmaceutical products, reduce the cost of medications, improve access to healthcare and impact positively on the well-being of citizens,” the CPPE said while reviewing the policy.
President Bola Tinubu recently signed the Executive Order to introduce zero tariffs, excise duties, and VAT on specialized machinery, equipment and pharmaceutical raw materials to boost local production of essential healthcare products.
According to the private think-tank, ”it would also revitalize our pharmaceutical industries and create more jobs Fiscal policy measures have much better prospects of addressing supply side challenges in the economy, if well targeted.”
CPPE noted that boosting production is very vital to fixing the current inflationary pressures, driven largely by supply side challenges in the economy. Fiscal policy measures are potent tools for the realization of this objective.
The Centre recommended that similar fiscal policy measures should be replicated to boost production in other segments of the real sector.
”We need similar executive orders for agriculture, agrochemicals and Agro-allied industries to curb the surging food inflation; we need similar intervention in the energy sector, to promote energy security and incentivize private investments in the sector; there is need for similar support for Iron and steel sector to aid the construction industry and reduce construction costs for housing and infrastructure.”
It also advocated for fiscal policy protection to support domestic investments in petroleum refineries to conserve foreign exchange, create jobs, and deepen backward integration.
”There is a groundswell of economic nationalism globally and we should respond by strengthening our domestic production capabilities across all sectors,” CPPE said.
Meanwhile, the CPPE commends the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for scrapping of its Price Verification System Portal which it says was ”a needless duplication of the functions of the Nigeria Customs Service, and a product of a dysfunctional foreign exchange regime,” and urged the CBN to sustain its engagement with the private sector for quality, evidence-based feedback on monetary policy outcomes.
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