NAN-HE-19
Growth
By Cecilia Ologunagba
Abuja, Feb, 28, 2018 (NAN) An economist, Prof. Ben Aigbokhan has advised the Federal Government to formulate polices that will further promote agriculture and encourage small scale enterprises to enhance inclusive growth.
Aigbokhan gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja, while reacting to the fourth Quarter 2017, Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in a “Nigerian GDP Report for Fourth Quarter 2017 and Full Year’’, said that the economy recorded an annual growth rate of 0.83 per cent in 2017.
The NBS said that the 2017 growth rate of 0.83 per cent was higher than the -1.58 per cent recorded in 2016, about 2.42 per cent difference.
Meanwhile, the report stated that the nation’s GDP grew by 1.92 per cent (year-on-year) in real terms in the fourth quarter of 2017.
Aigbokhan, the immediate Past President of Nigeria Economic Society, said the figures suggested that the economy was picking up.
He, however, said that for the growth to be inclusive, it needed to reflect generation of employment and income.
“So far, as jobs and income are not generated, especially for the low income groups, we can say the growth is inclusive.
“The government needs to focus on manufacturing driven by small scale enterprises so that the growth can be more inclusive.
“For example, the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is a way of creating credits for farmers which will also make the growth inclusive,’’ the don said.
Aigbokhan, a Professor of Economics and the Vice-Chancellor of Samuel Adegboyega University, Edo, said the sectorial breakdown would also show the sectors that had been contributing to the growth.
The NBS report, however, stated that GDP in the quarter was driven by growth in crop production, crude production and natural gas, metal ores, construction, transportation and storage, trade, electricity and gas production.
It stated that crop production grew by 4.58 per cent in the period under review, compared to 3.19 per cent in the third quarter of 2017, and 4.36 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2016.
The report said that crude production grew by 8.38 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2017, compared to 25.89 per cent in the third quarter of 2017 and a contraction of -17.70 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2016.
It said that metal Ore grew by 31.86 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2017, compared to 10.70 per cent in the third quarter of 2017, and 7.03 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2016.
In addition, the report stated that construction grew by 4.14 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2017 compared to a contraction of -0.46 per cent in the third quarter of 2017. (NAN)
CIA/FNO/EEE
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Edited by Franca Ofili/Ese E. Ekama