The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Mrs. Christine Lagarde, on Monday lauded the administration of President Goodluck Jonathans efforts at transforming the nations economy.She said she was impressed by the various changes being made by the government which would transform the economy.Lagarde spoke with State House correspondents shortly after meeting with Jonathan as part of her ongoing visit to Africa.She said during the meeting with the President, they both reviewed the transformation agenda and all the proposed changes that would improve the economy.She said, I have to say that as the managing director of the IMF, I was extremely impressed with the walk that he (Jonathan) is leading, the energy and pace at which he wants to transform the economy, create jobs, focus on agriculture and that is extremely impressive.The IMF has been a partner of Nigeria for many years, we have also transformed our institution and we are here to listen, understand and support.If it is needed, we will provide technical assistance concerning the banks restructuring initiative concerning some of those measures but we are very impressed.She had earlier informed the President that the feedback she had received from the IMF team which recently undertook a review of the Federal Governments economic programme was very positive.She said the IMF team had been very impressed with the governments prioritisation of job creation, agriculture, power supply, education and health care.Lagarde said the team was also impressed with the present administrations fiscal and monetary policies as well as the reformation of the banking and financial services sector, and the establishment of a Sovereign Wealth Fund.She advised, however, that the government should take further steps to protect Nigeria from the adverse effects of the crises in the global economy.Earlier, Jonathan had told the visiting IMF boss that his administration remained committed to engineering a positive transformation of the Nigerian economy that would ensure that the country become a much bigger player in the global economy as envisioned in its Vision 2020.He said the team established to oversee the implementation of the administrations economic agenda would receive all the political supports it required to ensure that the objective of significantly improving the national economy was attained.We are totally committed to changing things in Nigeria. Our vision is that by the year 2020, Nigeria will have become a much bigger player in the global economy. We have established a good team and we will give them the full political backing they need to succeed, the President said.Noting that Nigerians had become wary and skeptical of dealings with the IMF in the aftermath of the Structural Adjustment Programme, the President said he believed that the IMF was now a changed institution, which could contribute positively to the economies of Nigeria and other developing nations.I believe the present IMF is different. Our emphasis is on poverty alleviation and job creation. We are also looking at ways of improving education and healthcare delivery. I believe we can work together constructively, he said.
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