October 05, (THEWILL) – The World Bank has revised its economic growth outlook for Nigeria in 2023, to 2.9 percent.
This is lower than its earlier projection of 3.3 percent for Africa’s largest economy.
In the latest edition of its macroeconomic regional outlook titled ‘Africa Pulse’ released Wednesday, the World Bank cited currency pressure, insecurity, and other challenges for its projection.
The multilateral institution noted that Sub-Saharan Africa’s economic outlook remained bleak amid an elusive growth recovery by Nigeria and Angola — leading oil producers in Africa.
It noted that rising instability, weak growth in the region’s largest economies, and lingering uncertainty in the global economy were dragging down growth prospects in the region.
The World Bank report projected a deceleration of economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa to 2.5 per cent in 2023, from 3.6 per cent in 2022 stating that GDP growth would be lagging.
“South Africa’s GDP is expected to only grow by 0.5 per cent in 2023 as energy and transportation bottlenecks continue to bite.
“Nigeria and Angola are projected to grow at 2.9 per cent and 1.3 per cent respectively, due to lower international prices and currency pressures affecting oil and non-oil activity,” the report stated.
Sam Diala is a Bloomberg Certified Financial Journalist with over a decade of experience in reporting Business and Economy. He is Business Editor at THEWILL Newspaper, and believes that work, not wishes, creates wealth.
