Recession: Don hails IMF report , urges FG to make economic-friendly policy
NAN-HE- 12
Prediction
By Cecilia Ologunagba
Abuja, Jan. 17, 2017 (NAN) An economist, Dr Aminu Usman, has advised the Federal Government to make domestic economic policy more business-friendly to help the country out of the current recession.
Usman gave the advice when he reacted to International Monetary Fund (IMF) report in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Tuesday.
According to him, it is a good news that the IMF report and international monetary institutions are forecasting improved economic performance that can lift our economy out of recession.
IMF says in its Latest World Economic Outlook that Nigeria will recover from economic recession this year, projecting that the country’s economy will grow by 0.8 per cent.
It says that Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product will grow by 0.8 per cent this year and 2.3 per cent in 2018.
Usman, however, said the good forecast would depend largely on positive outcome of the performance of the global economy generally.
He said that the country’s performance would depend on global economy, even though “it is noteworthy that positive improvement in security situation in the Niger Delta is also forseen.
“To achieve this modest success in the economy, the domestic economic policy environment must be made more business-friendly”.
Usman, a lecturer at the Department of Economics, Kaduna State University also advised the government to focus on diversification.
“Daily Trust Newspapers reported yesterday that out of about N13.5 trillion combined States and FGN budget for 2017, only a paltry sum of N254 billion or 1.8 per cent will be spent on agriculture.
“This paltry amount will be spent despite claim to taking measures to diversify the economy.
“Therefore, good as the IMF projections are, the domestic managers of our economy must key in the economy into the favourable growth potential projected for the global economy,’’ he said.
Similarly, Prof. Ben Aigbokhan, the Vice-Chancelor, Samuel Adegboyega University, Edo, has expressed optimism that Nigeria will be out of the recession in 2017.
Aigbokhan said the main cause of the recession was the drop in oil price, which affected the country’s foreign reserve.
“I have told you before that Nigeria will be out of recession latest by third quarter of the year and IMF has also confirmed my predication for the country.
“By the time the economy has been nose diving in a recession for first and second quarter, at most by the third quarter, they should be doing something that will bring the economy out.
“We have had two quarters so far, and the public is crying out for action, so I am optimistic that the country will be out of recession soon,’’ he said.
Aigbokhan, the President, Nigerian Economic Society, said that the price of oil would pick up at the international market and the country’s oil production would also pick up.
The IMF also cited increased crude oil production due to security improvement as the reason for the forecast.
The projections for this year and the next represent 0.2 per cent and 0.7 per cent improvement from what the IMF had projected for Nigeria in its October 2016 World Economic Outlook.
Nigeria’s forecasts were also revised up, primarily reflecting higher oil production due to security improvements,” the World Economic Outlook, stated.
The forecast of 0.2 per cent corroborates the 1.0 per cent growth forecast for Nigeria’s economy in 2017 by the World Bank in its World Economic Report released last week.
While the IMF retained its forecast of 3.2 per cent growth for the global economy in 2017, it, however, raised its forecast for advance countries to 1.9 per cent from 1.8 per cent. (NAN)
CIA/OFN
Edited by Felix Nwadioha