AfDB commends Nigerian ports reform policy

The African Development Bank says Nigerian Ports Reform Policy and its economic partnership with the Economic Community of West African State and European Union, have enhanced its export drive.
The bank said in a book, the African Economic Outlook, on Thursday in
Abuja, that Nigeria’s export to African countries currently stood at
11 per cent of its total exports.
This notwithstanding, the bank said Nigeria had yet to tap into the
huge potentialities in the region for growth, economic diversification and integration.
It said that the West African market provided a tremendous opportunity for Nigeria’s financial sector.
The bank also observed that inflation rate, escalating budget deficits in some countries, rising wage bills, increasing domestic interest payments, among others, had hindered full monetary integration of the ECOWAS member states.
It commended Nigeria’s effort to encourage local manufacturing,
insisting that the major challenge to manufacturing was poor trade
network and infrastructure within the region.