Julius Berger: Buhari’s economic agenda unpredictable

 

The Managing Director of Julius Berger Plc, Mr. Detlev Lubasch, on Wednesday said because President Muhammadu Buhari‘s administration is yet to take shape, his economic agenda is difficult to predict.
Speaking at the 45th Annual General Meeting of the construction giant in Abuja, Lubasch lamented there has been an economic down turn in the country from the second half of 2014 to this year.
He called for a renewed focus on the nation’s economy, noting that the new administration will face challenges since key economic issues still continue.

He said: “There is an urgent need for renewed focus on the Nigerian economy. It is expected that the new administration will face some challenges, as key economic issues persist.
“But, there are positive indications for the future based on priorities communicated by President Buhari. As the President’s economic team has yet to take shape, it is difficult to predict his agenda for the economy.”
Lubasch said the time needed for the government to settle down shows no hope for rapid improvement.
He added: “With this expectation, the new administration has stated that no major actions can be realistically expected prior to the third quarter of 2015.
“Our forecast is that our strong order backlog will provide a steady revenue stream during the transition period, but that it will be difficult to maintain our level of performance in 2015, to that of the previous year.
“However, we will continue efforts to diversify our portfolio, to increase the proportion of private sector clients. Currently, public sector projects still represent 50 per cent of our business and large-scale infrastructure works remain a main competence.”
According to him, budgetary provisions for capital projects in 2015 are significantly lower than that of the previous year.