SAN FRANCISCO, November 28, (THEWILL) – The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has predicted that the nation’s economy will emerge from recession in the first quarter of 2021, while also projecting at least a 2% GDP growth for next year.
CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele revealed this in his presentation at the 55th annual Bankers Dinner which held on Friday night in Lagos.
“With the sustained implementation of our intervention measures, we do expect that the Nigerian economy could emerge from the recession by the first quarter of 2021.
“We also expect that growth in 2021 would attain 2.0%. However, downside risks remain, as restoration of full economic activities, particularly in service-related sectors, remains uncertain until a COVID vaccine is produced and made available to millions of people across the world.
“Second, with the significant rise in cases in advanced markets and the imposition of lockdowns in parts of Europe, concerns remain on the impact this could have on growth in advanced economies, commodity prices and the financial markets”, Emiefele said.
The CBN governor also called for measures to “insulate our economy from the impact of these shocks through our diversification efforts, while also working to ensure that we adhere to safety protocols in order to prevent a surge in COVID-19 related cases, as this could further cripple economic activities.
“Our actions in 2021 would be guided by the considerations that emerged from the Monetary Policy Committee meeting of November 23 & 24, 2020, which sought to address the major headwinds exerting downward pressure on output growth and upward pressure on domestic prices.”
Emefiele’s remarks come six days after Nigeria’s economy slipped into another recession, the second in four years due to the fall in the price of crude oil and the coronavirus lockdown.
According to a new report released by the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics on November 21, the economy shrank again in the third quarter of this year but showed strength in some key sectors which pointed that the economy was on the part of recovery following the easing of the lockdown.
The nation’s economy maintained a second consecutive negative growth after contracting by 3.62% in the third quarter and -6.10 in the second quarter.
The cumulative Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the first nine months of 2020, therefore, stood at -2.48%.
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