excel101:
To pay at point of delivery?

Of course, or do you have any other choice of payment?

tsdarkside:


what the hell are you talkin about....??

foreighn reserves has been steadily increasin not decreasin....

are you not happy about that....??

their is no reason to import stuff that you can produce here....

to hell with your basmati rice,to hell with your pizza from london....

You're annoyingly ignorant. Is it must you argue about topics you know nothing about. The CBN has been spending more money to defend the naira year to year. I didnt mention the total reserves.

The Central Bank of Nigeria sold a whopping $36.6 billion in forex in 2018 according to a report released during the week on its website. This compares to $15.8 billion sold in 2017, a whopping 130% rise.

source

You're comments are idiotic. Nigeria wheat substitution policy has been a failure. Read the Bloomberg articles on it.

Nigeria’s wheat imports, which reached 4.6 million tons in 2017, are expected to expand by 9 percent to 5 million tons next year and double from that by 2030, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as demand surges for wheat-based foods such as pizza, pasta and bread. The West African nation estimates it spends $4 billion to $5 billion annually on wheat imports.

Nigeria’s decades-old program to boost wheat production and reduce imports worth more than $4 billion a year has faltered with farmers cutting output because of soaring input costs, leaving foreign suppliers to meet rising domestic demand, officials and farmers’ groups said.

source

No doubt, Nigeria’s agricultural sector is full of potential and there is a large room for growth. While the current administration has introduced several policies to help improve food security, not much progress has been recorded and the government should address this.

- According to global hunger index (GHI) 2018, Nigeria ranks 103 out of the 119 qualifying countries with a score of 31.1. This means Nigeria suffers from a level of hunger that is very serious.

- A closer look at GHI report shows that Nigeria is worse off in hunger index between 2000 and 2018.

- Nigeria’s fragile economy still manages to import more Agric. products than export. This means that the current domestic production cannot meet demands.

- While FOREX restriction on food importation is laudable, the government needs to carefully work on the gradual implementation of the policy in order not to heap more misery on the economy.


https://nairametrics.com/2019/08/15/buharis-food-importation-ban-could-drag-the-nigerian-economy-into-misery/


[/quote]
This country is so full of clown.
is it that you lot don't understand what what PoN says.
he said he gave directive to CBN not to give forex to those that import food into this country,of what big deal is that. ?

if Nigeria a country of more than 180 m cannot manufactured her food in 2019 then we are not serious.
should we be importing food in 2019,food that can easily be cultivated here in Nigeria,of what economic benefit is when you import banana,soup and Pizza into the country,we all claim the country is not moving forward but when government bring out some policy that can shape the economy we all cry and make unintelligent comment.

The Pon is not living up to expectations but some of his policy are meant to shape the policy of the country.

How can you be importing Food into this country and spending loads of forex on them same with Milk

rainmoredays:
a whole lions bet wanna sell phone

the guy mumu no be here

This country is so full of clown.
is it that you lot don't understand what what PoN says.
he said he gave directive to CBN not to give forex to those that import food into this country,of what big deal is that. ?

if Nigeria a country of more than 180 m cannot manufactured her food in 2019 then we are not serious.
should we be importing food in 2019,food that can easily be cultivated here in Nigeria,of what economic benefit is when you import banana,soup and Pizza into the country,we all claim the country is not moving forward but when government bring out some policy that can shape the economy we all cry and make unintelligent comment.

The Pon is not living up to expectations but some of his policy are meant to shape the policy of the country.

How can you be importing Food into this country and spending loads of forex on them same with Milk

Disgraceful youths.

Buhari has proved to be wiser and smarter than our so-called economists who know nothing about practicals but theory.

Many times Buhari has floored them on economics matter:

1. During the debate to fully float the Naira against the president's position not to do so, Buhari was eventually proved correct by attaining exchange rate stability without floating the currency.

2. PMB, against noise and wailing banned access to 42 items including toothpicks to save dollars. Today, most of those items are locally produced thereby creating local jobs and increasing wealth for the entrepreneurs who took adantage.

This time, the best president in Nigeria's history says that in a bid to encourage local food producers and make them competitive, the CBN should not provide dollars to food importers. Wailers and wailing zombies are masturbating and bringing up voodoo economics to tell us why it is wrong for the president to say/do so. Please tell us how best to encourage local production if not by making them more competitive? How can people produce locally if the imported goods remain cheap or slightly dearer?

Una no get sense I swear. And this senseless thinking is being led by a wannabe presidential candidate who was a deputy governor of CBN when GEJ sacked Sanusi. The idiot stood by GEJ. He was also alive when Jona the fisherman was ordering Emefiele to release billions of dollars for looting (in the name of fighting insurgency) but kept quiet.

IPOBites and sense are words and their opposite.

You want Nigeria to be like China, Korea, Japan, etc, but you don't want to take the hard decisions! Hypocrites and unpatriotic souls.

(Quote) (Report) 27 Likes (Like) 8 Shares (Share)
Re: Buhari’s Food Importation Ban Could Drag The Nigerian Economy Into Misery by tot(f): 3:47pm
Even the western countries import what they can't produce.

As part of the Brexit analysis, it was shown that the UK produces roughly 60% of the food it consumes. Of the remaining 40%, about three-quarters is imported directly from the European Union, including a lot of fresh fruit &vegetables, and the remaining 10% from the rest of the world. This is for a population of ~60 million, not to mention Nigeria which has triple that.

Who are Buhari's economic advisers? Na wa!

ANU MPAM,! Must you mention IPOB, GEJ , and your brain didn't allow to know that the article was from your brother Bamidele??

orion7:
you that is. not a cow.

why did dangote stop processing tomatoes.
I guess people like you told him your father's have enough tomatoes to sell him

Dangote stopped it because of lack of raw materials which was tomatoes.

Who says make them no import?do the U.K. Government provide forex for business owners?so what are you talking about?goverment should subsidize material that help grow economy.after providing forex for some people to go back and sell at the black market

tot:
Even the western countries import what they can't produce.

As part of the Brexit analysis, it was shown that the UK produces roughly 60% of the food it consumes. Of the remaining 40%, about three-quarters is imported directly from the European Union, including a lot of fresh fruit &vegetables, and the remaining 10% from the rest of the world. This is for a population of ~60 million, not to mention Nigeria which has triple that.

Who are Buhari's economic advisers? Na wa!

SillyMods:
Disgraceful youths.

Buhari has proved to be wiser and smarter than our so-called economists who know nothing about practicals but theory.

Many times Buhari has floored them on economics matter:

1. During the debate to fully float the Naira against the president's position not to do so, Buhari was eventually proved correct by attaining exchange rate stability without floating the currency.

2. PMB, against noise and wailing banned access to 42 items including toothpicks to save dollars. Today, most of those items are locally produced thereby creating local jobs and increasing wealth for the entrepreneurs who took adantage.

This time, the best president in Nigeria's history says that in a bid to encourage local food producers and make them competitive, the CBN should not provide dollars to food importers. Wailers and wailing zombies are masturbating and bringing up voodoo economics to tell us why it is wrong for the president to say/do so. Please tell us how best to encourage local production if not by making them more competitive? How can people produce locally if the imported goods remain cheap or slightly dearer?

Una no get sense I swear. And this senseless thinking is being led by a wannabe presidential candidate who was a deputy governor of CBN when GEJ sacked Sanusi. The idiot stood by GEJ. He was also alive when Jona the fisherman was ordering Emefiele to release billions of dollars for looting (in the name of fighting insurgency) but kept quiet.

IPOBites and sense are words and their opposite.

You want Nigeria to be like China, Korea, Japan, etc, but you don't want to take the hard decisions! Hypocrites and unpatriotic souls.

Soybeans are China's No. 1 agricultural import from the U.S., with a 52% market share. China is among the top export markets for U.S. major ag commodities: o No. 1 in soybeans, feed, animal hides, alfalfa; o No. 2 in hay; o No. 3 in dairy, poultry; o No. 4 in processed food, pork, beef; o No. 5 in wheat.

[quote author=tot post=81283371]Even the western countries import what they can't produce.

As part of the Brexit analysis, it was shown that the UK produces roughly 60% of the food it consumes. Of the remaining 40%, about three-quarters is imported directly from the European Union, including a lot of fresh fruit &vegetables, and the remaining 10% from the rest of the world. This is for a population of ~60 million, not to mention Nigeria which has triple that.

Who are Buhari's economic advisers? Na wa! [/quot

Illiteracy is ur problem did Buhari ban importation of food? The ans is no

He only said CBN should not sell forex to the importers again . They should scout the forex for themselves. Brother learn to buy news paper read b4 coming out to disgrace urself

safarigirl:
After increasing poverty rate, the next thing is to make sure half the country starves to death.

Buhari is doing so much to reduce the world population, he should be commended

Is it the starving people that eat imported food? From all I know, only rich people eat canned food or imported raw food. The average Nigerian buys from the local markets

the higher the risk the higher the reward. no good thing comes from comfort zone. if you know you know

[s]

SillyMods:
Disgraceful youths.

Buhari has proved to be wiser and smarter than our so-called economists who know nothing about practicals but theory.

Many times Buhari has floored them on economics matter:

1. During the debate to fully float the Naira against the president's position not to do so, Buhari was eventually proved correct by attaining exchange rate stability without floating the currency.

2. PMB, against noise and wailing banned access to 42 items including toothpicks to save dollars. Today, most of those items are locally produced thereby creating local jobs and increasing wealth for the entrepreneurs who took adantage.

This time, the best president in Nigeria's history says that in a bid to encourage local food producers and make them competitive, the CBN should not provide dollars to food importers. Wailers and wailing zombies are masturbating and bringing up voodoo economics to tell us why it is wrong for the president to say/do so. Please tell us how best to encourage local production if not by making them more competitive? How can people produce locally if the imported goods remain cheap or slightly dearer?

Una no get sense I swear. And this senseless thinking is being led by a wannabe presidential candidate who was a deputy governor of CBN when GEJ sacked Sanusi. The idiot stood by GEJ. He was also alive when Jona the fisherman was ordering Emefiele to release billions of dollars for looting (in the name of fighting insurgency) but kept quiet.

IPOBites and sense are words and their opposite.

You want Nigeria to be like China, Korea, Japan, etc, but you don't want to take the hard decisions! Hypocrites and unpatriotic souls.

[/s]

junks from Yoruba muslim

safarigirl:
After increasing poverty rate, the next thing is to make sure half the country starves to death.

Buhari is doing so much to reduce the world population, he should be commended

i always respect you here but its seems you are losing it.

i don't rate the man cos hes too slow in decisions making but still far better than that ineffectual buffoon that has no value or understand what economic policies is all about.

Buhari is not suppose to be the PoN but i will rate him far better than that one from another country.

how can you be importing food from abroad,imaging pizza,soup and such from another country.

Critical reasoning is alien to Nigerian,what he said is no CBN fund for you if you want to import food.

go and look for you funds elswhere,black market but cbn will not give you funds i dont think some people even know what cbn funds is all about Nigerian Smh

hisgrace090:
There's hardly a country that doese not import food they're not sufficient to.

How are we going to reduced unemployment if we keep on importing what we can produce in this country with the vast and fertile land. Let's encourage those that want to go into farming which is what the president is trying to do. Sai Buhari

SillyMods:
Disgraceful youths.

Buhari has proved to be wiser and smarter than our so-called economists who know nothing about practicals but theory.

Many times Buhari has floored them on economics matter:

1. During the debate to fully float the Naira against the president's position not to do so, Buhari was eventually proved correct by attaining exchange rate stability without floating the currency.

2. PMB, against noise and wailing banned access to 42 items including toothpicks to save dollars. Today, most of those items are locally produced thereby creating local jobs and increasing wealth for the entrepreneurs who took adantage.

This time, the best president in Nigeria's history says that in a bid to encourage local food producers and make them competitive, the CBN should not provide dollars to food importers. Wailers and wailing zombies are masturbating and bringing up voodoo economics to tell us why it is wrong for the president to say/do so. Please tell us how best to encourage local production if not by making them more competitive? How can people produce locally if the imported goods remain cheap or slightly dearer?

Una no get sense I swear. And this senseless thinking is being led by a wannabe presidential candidate who was a deputy governor of CBN when GEJ sacked Sanusi. The idiot stood by GEJ. He was also alive when Jona the fisherman was ordering Emefiele to release billions of dollars for looting (in the name of fighting insurgency) but kept quiet.

IPOBites and sense are words and their opposite.

You want Nigeria to be like China, Korea, Japan, etc, but you don't want to take the hard decisions! Hypocrites and unpatriotic souls.

You're a product of quota system education,so I will not be too hard on you,rather I will cure your nauseating ignorance.



[b]No country is self sufficient,so banning of food importation is a stvpid idea. How can your daft president pretend to make Nigerian farmers productive and compete favourably with their counterparts abroad when same farmers and theirs farmers are being destroyed by killer herdsmen from his tribe?


I know you're a sycophant that needs to earn his paltry crumb to survive, but basic economics will tell you that importers will source their dollars from the black market,thereby making the basic food very expensive and creating inflation in your shithole


If your lifeless president goes ahead and ban the importation of food in the country,what will happen to workers who work in marts and food processing companies in your dead country?


I know by virtue of your dumb education,you lack critical thinking and subject analysis,but try to take your mind back to when your dog banned the importation of rice,did it increase local production which will be felt in the reduction of price of the staple food?



A little education on basic economics will save you from disgracing yourself in the public.[/b]

SillyMods:
Disgraceful youths.

Buhari has proved to be wiser and smarter than our so-called economists who know nothing about practicals but theory.

Many times Buhari has floored them on economics matter:

1. During the debate to fully float the Naira against the president's position not to do so, Buhari was eventually proved correct by attaining exchange rate stability without floating the currency.

2. PMB, against noise and wailing banned access to 42 items including toothpicks to save dollars. Today, most of those items are locally produced thereby creating local jobs and increasing wealth for the entrepreneurs who took adantage.

This time, the best president in Nigeria's history says that in a bid to encourage local food producers and make them competitive, the CBN should not provide dollars to food importers. Wailers and wailing zombies are masturbating and bringing up voodoo economics to tell us why it is wrong for the president to say/do so. Please tell us how best to encourage local production if not by making them more competitive? How can people produce locally if the imported goods remain cheap or slightly dearer?

Una no get sense I swear. And this senseless thinking is being led by a wannabe presidential candidate who was a deputy governor of CBN when GEJ sacked Sanusi. The idiot stood by GEJ. He was also alive when Jona the fisherman was ordering Emefiele to release billions of dollars for looting (in the name of fighting insurgency) but kept quiet.

IPOBites and sense are words and their opposite.

You want Nigeria to be like China, Korea, Japan, etc, but you don't want to take the hard decisions! Hypocrites and unpatriotic souls.

Thumbs up my brother.

SillyMods:
Disgraceful youths.

Buhari has proved to be wiser and smarter than our so-called economists who know nothing about practicals but theory.

Many times Buhari has floored them on economics matter:

1. During the debate to fully float the Naira against the president's position not to do so, Buhari was eventually proved correct by attaining exchange rate stability without floating the currency.

2. PMB, against noise and wailing banned access to 42 items including toothpicks to save dollars. Today, most of those items are locally produced thereby creating local jobs and increasing wealth for the entrepreneurs who took adantage.

This time, the best president in Nigeria's history says that in a bid to encourage local food producers and make them competitive, the CBN should not provide dollars to food importers. Wailers and wailing zombies are masturbating and bringing up voodoo economics to tell us why it is wrong for the president to say/do so. Please tell us how best to encourage local production if not by making them more competitive? How can people produce locally if the imported goods remain cheap or slightly dearer?

Una no get sense I swear. And this senseless thinking is being led by a wannabe presidential candidate who was a deputy governor of CBN when GEJ sacked Sanusi. The idiot stood by GEJ. He was also alive when Jona the fisherman was ordering Emefiele to release billions of dollars for looting (in the name of fighting insurgency) but kept quiet.

IPOBites and sense are words and their opposite.

You want Nigeria to be like China, Korea, Japan, etc, but you don't want to take the hard decisions! Hypocrites and unpatriotic souls.

kudos.

Anybody that insists on imported Garri,PalmOil,rice,beans,fufu,milk,plantain, meat,fish,semovita,beverage.

should have his or her brain examined .

All the required foods required for healthy living are available locally.

The average Nigerian does not need imported food to fight hunger.

SOFTDRINK:

You're a product of quota system education,so I will not be too hard on you,rather I will cure your nauseating ignorance.



[b]No country is self sufficient,so banning of food importation is a stvpid idea. How can your daft president pretend to make Nigerian farmers productive and compete favourably with their counterparts abroad when same farmers and theirs farmers are being destroyed by killer herdsmen from his tribe?


I know you're a sycophant that needs to earn his paltry crumb to survive, but basic economics will tell you that importers will source their dollars from the black market,thereby making the basic food very expensive and creating inflation in your shithole


If your lifeless president goes ahead and ban the importation of food in the country,what will happen to workers who work in marts and food processing companies in your dead country?


I know by virtue of your dumb education,you lack critical thinking and subject analysis,but try to take your mind back to when your dog banned the importation of rice,did it increase local production which will be felt in the reduction of price of the staple food?



A little education on basic economics will save you from disgracing yourself in the public.[/b]

Reading only your first line tells everything I need to know about you - that is, you are very dumb.

Is not making govt dollars available to food importers same as banning those food items?

Dull thing, I didn't read the remaining jargon after your first line.

tot:
Even the western countries import what they can't produce.

As part of the Brexit analysis, it was shown that the UK produces roughly 60% of the food it consumes. Of the remaining 40%, about three-quarters is imported directly from the European Union, including a lot of fresh fruit &vegetables, and the remaining 10% from the rest of the world. This is for a population of ~60 million, not to mention Nigeria which has triple that.

Who are Buhari's economic advisers? Na wa!

And considering that the Nigerian Agricultural sector is not as developed as that of Britian.

hmmmm

SillyMods:
Disgraceful youths.

Buhari has proved to be wiser and smarter than our so-called economists who know nothing about practicals but theory.

Many times Buhari has floored them on economics matter:

1. During the debate to fully float the Naira against the president's position not to do so, Buhari was eventually proved correct by attaining exchange rate stability without floating the currency.

2. PMB, against noise and wailing banned access to 42 items including toothpicks to save dollars. Today, most of those items are locally produced thereby creating local jobs and increasing wealth for the entrepreneurs who took adantage.

This time, the best president in Nigeria's history says that in a bid to encourage local food producers and make them competitive, the CBN should not provide dollars to food importers. Wailers and wailing zombies are masturbating and bringing up voodoo economics to tell us why it is wrong for the president to say/do so. Please tell us how best to encourage local production if not by making them more competitive? How can people produce locally if the imported goods remain cheap or slightly dearer?

Una no get sense I swear. And this senseless thinking is being led by a wannabe presidential candidate who was a deputy governor of CBN when GEJ sacked Sanusi. The idiot stood by GEJ. He was also alive when Jona the fisherman was ordering Emefiele to release billions of dollars for looting (in the name of fighting insurgency) but kept quiet.

IPOBites and sense are words and their opposite.

You want Nigeria to be like China, Korea, Japan, etc, but you don't want to take the hard decisions! Your Hypocrites and unpatriotic souls.

Your such a dumb fool......why mention Ipobites after ur analysis......does Bamidele ,the man who wrote the article sound like an ipob name to you?? Continue you wallow in hate.Next level hunger is just getting started!

If CBN fail to provide Forex, importers will switch to using Cryptocurrencies

SillyMods:
Disgraceful youths.

Buhari has proved to be wiser and smarter than our so-called economists who know nothing about practicals but theory.

Many times Buhari has floored them on economics matter:

1. During the debate to fully float the Naira against the president's position not to do so, Buhari was eventually proved correct by attaining exchange rate stability without floating the currency.

2. PMB, against noise and wailing banned access to 42 items including toothpicks to save dollars. Today, most of those items are locally produced thereby creating local jobs and increasing wealth for the entrepreneurs who took adantage.

This time, the best president in Nigeria's history says that in a bid to encourage local food producers and make them competitive, the CBN should not provide dollars to food importers. Wailers and wailing zombies are masturbating and bringing up voodoo economics to tell us why it is wrong for the president to say/do so. Please tell us how best to encourage local production if not by making them more competitive? How can people produce locally if the imported goods remain cheap or slightly dearer?

Una no get sense I swear. And this senseless thinking is being led by a wannabe presidential candidate who was a deputy governor of CBN when GEJ sacked Sanusi. The idiot stood by GEJ. He was also alive when Jona the fisherman was ordering Emefiele to release billions of dollars for looting (in the name of fighting insurgency) but kept quiet.

IPOBites and sense are words and their opposite.

You want Nigeria to be like China, Korea, Japan, etc, but you don't want to take the hard decisions! Hypocrites and unpatriotic souls.

I wanted to say something but you've said it all

The problem is not banning CBN FOREX on food imports but what measures have been put in place to ameliorate the potential harsh shock effect of that.

jolyment:



Dangote stopped it because of lack of raw materials which was tomatoes.

that's what I was telling the zombie.


they will tell you north is this and that. if better company come eh forget. then you will know there 're no farms in nigeria. take it from me

blackpanda:
[s][/s]

You are importing because its easier and cheaper. But that same importation is destroying the economy and ensure that the agricultural sector never achieves its potential. Its common sense, no need for insults

Dubai and USA do import food items , why has it not destroyed their economy ? make me to understand this please

Pistotita:
I don't know why people aren't happy with this action of Mr. President. To me, it's a good move. If he doesn't do this, we will keep importing everything. At least, we need to move to producing over 80% of the food we consume. He is not saying he is banning it, but just not making it attractive so it can force us to go into local production.

You should understand that most Nigerians are functional illiterates, this is something that should make people happy because it would help in discouraging imports but of course since it is Buhari saying this, it's a bad idea to them

SOFTDRINK:

You're a product of quota system education,so I will not be too hard on you,rather I will cure your nauseating ignorance.



[b]No country is self sufficient,so banning of food importation is a stvpid idea. How can your daft president pretend to make Nigerian farmers productive and compete favourably with their counterparts abroad when same farmers and theirs farmers are being destroyed by killer herdsmen from his tribe?


I know you're a sycophant that needs to earn his paltry crumb to survive, but basic economics will tell you that importers will source their dollars from the black market,thereby making the basic food very expensive and creating inflation in your shithole


If your lifeless president goes ahead and ban the importation of food in the country,what will happen to workers who work in marts and food processing companies in your dead country?


I know by virtue of your dumb education,you lack critical thinking and subject analysis,but try to take your mind back to when your dog banned the importation of rice,did it increase local production which will be felt in the reduction of price of the staple food?



A little education on basic economics will save you from disgracing yourself in the public.[/b]

This your trash does not make sense.

Your narratives suggest a very shallow knowledge of economics and an attempt at ethnocentrism.

Dumbnesses is when you do not know that when a resource such forex is scarce,then you need to prioritise the utilisation.

This is elementary economics and finance.

The average Nigerian does not need imported food to live a healthy life.

Local Meat,Garri,fufu,plantain,beans,fish ,rice,vegetables,milk,amala,tuwo ,semovita,etc,are enough for healthy living.

We can still do without any of the above food items if not available, because there are other local alternatives.

E.g if local rice is not available in your area,you can still live a better life without eating rice !

LegendHero:
To be honest, Buhari meant well by telling CBN to stop giving FOREX to food importers coz by the basic common sense rule it will make people patronize locally produced food ma and hence create employment based on the fact that Agriculture is the largest employer of labor in Nigeria.

But looking at it from another perspective, there are always effects to any action no matter how good or bad it seems like. The effect to this is that in a nation like Nigeria, the food importers will resort to getting the FOREX elsewhere from the black market dealers and the brunt of the high cost of food will be on the final consumers.

The government is trying in their own way to give farmers incentives and inturn increase yield but we are not yet at the level we want and they really need to invest more in agriculture to get machineries and fertilizers to the farm[/b]ers. They shouldn’t just stop granting FOREX to food importers, but they need to remove it bit by bit to be able to ease the pain on the citizens.

Tbh we are not yet at the point where we can produce 80% of what we consume in Nigeria, hence the government need to be tactical not to remove the FOREX from the importers at once, but do so gradually.

[b]Buhari policy is right in an ideal country provided we can really mechanize our farming and our farmers can meet the daily demand of food, but in Nigeria things are different and we don’t conform to textbook definitions of economics coz a lot of factors come into play.

Verdict: The government should not stop granting FOREX all at once, coz the aftermath effect could be fatal.

1. Higher prices of foodstuff would encourage more local farmers into production, remember the rice revolution in many states in the past few years, price has gone down significantly because of higher production.

2 & 3.When and how do we start to reducing our over dependence on foreign food, China, India or even Japan didn't start till their farms all became mechanised, in fact till date, Japan and Switzerland still operate a form of protectionist policy on their agricultural produce against imports.

It is for the overall good of the country and her economy