International Monetary Fund (IMF) is projecting that Nigeria’s economy will end its recession in 2017, growing by 0.6 per cent that year.
According to the IMF’s World Economic Outlook (WEO) released yesterday in Washington, the fund is projecting that the current economic recession will outlast 2016, with a gross domestic product (GDP) contraction of 1.7 per cent, reported online news medium, The Cable.
Nigeria’s economy was previously projected to contract by 1.8 per cent in 2016 by the fund, but the WEO has seen that reviewed to 1.7 per cent.
The country has recorded a 0.36 and 2.06 per cent contraction in the first and second quarters of 2016, respectively, plunging it into its worst recession in 29 years.
“Sub-Saharan Africa’s largest economies continue to struggle with lower commodity revenues, weighing on growth in the region,” IMF said in the report.
“Nigeria’s economy is forecast to shrink 1.7 per cent in 2016, and South Africa’s will barely expand.
“By contrast, several of the region’s non-resource exporters, including Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Senegal, are expected to continue to grow at a robust pace of more than five per cent this year,” the report stated.
(Thisday )
