The current recession, which the Nigerian economy recently
slid into, will be short-lived, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National
Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, has said.
Ahmed said this on Monday at the ongoing 26th Nigerian
Economic Summit organised by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group and the Federal
Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning.
She said the country would emerge from the recession in the
fourth quarter of this year or by the first quarter of 2021.
Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy, entered its second
recession in five years in the third quarter of this year as the Gross Domestic
Product fell for the second consecutive quarter.
The GDP dropped by 3.62 per cent in Q3 and 6.10 per cent in
Q2, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
The finance minister said the COVID-19-induced recession
followed the pattern across the world where many countries had entered economic
recession.
“Let me remind us that before the impact of COVID-19, the
Nigerian economy was experiencing sustained growth, which had been improving
quarter by quarter until the second quarter of 2020, when the impact of the
COVID-19 was felt,” she said.
Ahmed said other countries also in recession, including the
United Kingdom and the United States, recorded much deeper contraction than
that of Nigeria.
“Nigeria is not alone in this, but I will say that Nigeria
has outperformed all of these economies in terms of the record of a negative
growth.”
According to her, South Africa, which recorded a decline of
-50 per cent compared to Nigeria’s -6.1 per cent in Q2, will also record a
deeper negative growth in Q3.
Ahmed said, “While the economy has entered into recession in
the third quarter, the trend of the growth suggests that this will be a
short-lived recession, and indeed by the fourth or, at worst, the first quarter
of 2021, the country will exit recession.
“Our expectation of a quick exit, which will be historically
fast, is anchored on the several complementary fiscal, real sector and monetary
interventions that have been proactively introduced by government to forestall
a far worse decline of the economy and alleviate the negative consequences of
the pandemic.”
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Why the optimism without a plan? What plan have you to get Nigeria out of recession.Do you have what it takes or do you just want to deflect attention by pretending to be optimistic? Are you able to give us timeframe and not just making vague postulation?
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