Nigeria suffers the deepest cut from IMF downgrades

Among the countries whose growth forecasts were put on the chopping block by the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday, Nigeria suffered the steepest downgrade.

The fund now expects Africa’s most populous nation to grow 2.3 per cent this year, compared to the 4.1 per cent growth it had previously forecast in January, the Financial Times reports.

As the continent’s largest oil producer, Nigeria has been hit hard by the collapse in oil prices, with its currency, the naira, coming under immense downward pressure.

Underscoring the country’s challenges, MSCI warned last week that it was considering removing Nigeria from its Frontier Markets Index, potentially dealing a huge blow to  its ability to attract foreign investment.

The IMF also took the red pen to its forecasts for Brazil and Russia. The two are on track to be this year’s worst performing big emerging economies this year, with Brazil now expected to contract 3.8 per cent and Russia predicted to shrink 1.8 per cent.