The Federal Government, on Tuesday, welcomed news of Nigeria’s recovery from recession after five consecutive quarters of negative economic growth that began in 2016 with cautious optimism.
A statement by Laolu Akande, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity, quoted Economic Adviser to the President, Dr. Adeyemi Dipeolu as calling for cautious optimism as the growth recorded is fragile and vulnerable to exogenous shocks or policy slippages.
The statement followed the release earlier Tuesday of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP) data by the National Bureau of Statistics for the 2017 Q2 showing that the economy grew by 0.55% from minus 0.91% in the preceding quarter.
The recovery, he believes, would rather fire the resolve by the Muhammadu Buhari administration to vigorously implement its Economic Recovery & Growth Plan launched earlier this year, ensuring that efforts are intensified to achieve desired outcomes, including sustained inclusive growth, further diversification of the economy, creation of jobs and improved business conditions.”
Dipeolu noted that the overall economic plan and direction of the administration has resulted, among others, in sustained restoration of oil production levels, (occasioned by the enhanced security and stability in the Niger Delta) sustained growth in agriculture, mining and the first growth recorded in industry as a whole in the last nine quarters since Q4 2014.
According to him, “the GDP figures give grounds for cautious optimism especially as inflation has continued to fall from 18.72% in January 2017 to 16.05% in July 2017. Foreign exchange reserves have similarly improved from a low of $24.53 in September 2016 to about $31 billion in August 2017. In the same vein capital importation grew by 95% year-on-year driven by portfolio and other investments but also notably by foreign direct investment which increased by almost 30% over the previous quarter.
“Foreign trade has also contributed to improving economic conditions with exports amounting to N3.1 trillion in Q2 2017 while imports which increased by 13.5% amounted to N2.5 trillion in the same period. The overall trade balance thus remained positive at N0.60 trillion,” he added.
The Economic Adviser expressed belief that the successful implementation of ERGP initiatives such as N-Power and the social housing scheme will boost job creation.
He noted the need to closely watch food inflation, which has remained “quite high and volatile due mostly to high transport costs and seasonal factors such as the planting season,” expressing hopes that this would ease with the administration’s huge investments “in road and rail infrastructures, increased supply and availability of fertilizers and improvements in the business environment should contribute to the easing of food prices.”