LCCI warns Poor infrastructure, excess regulatory will lead to high cost of doing business in 2020

The Lagos Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI) has warned that poor infrastructure, excessive regulatory, among others, will have negative impact on business operation in the new year.

The austere projection was outlined during the chamber’s 2019 Economic Review and Outlook for 2020, on Thursday, in Lagos.

The LCCI emphasised that discourse such as land-border closure, power, AfCTA, CBN intervention efforts, import tariffs, increase in VAT, and minimum wage will shape the realities of 2020 for businesses.

Buttressing the outlook, the Director-General of the LCCI, Muda Yusuf, said, “We are of the view that failure by government to fix structural constraints with regards to fixing power challenges and rehabilitating deplorable road networks, will perpetuate the poor productivity and performance of the sector.”

He further explained, “In our opinion, continued protectionist measures of government will most likely limit growth in 2020. Elsewhere, the level of the country’s engagement in Africa Continental Free Trade Area scheduled to kick-off July 1, 2020, will also impact the performance of trade sector.”

However, the body implored government to fix fundamental constraints that have led to high cost of domestic productions. To aid export and import business, it highlighted that solutions must be proffered to the present prohibitive import tariffs, cost of clearing cargo at the Lagos ports, and cut-throat logistics.