The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday revised marginally upwards Nigeria’s real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate projections for 2019 to 2.1 percent from its January estimates of 2 percent.
This comes as the fund cut its outlook for global growth to the lowest since the financial crisis amid a bleaker outlook in most major advanced economies and signs that higher tariffs are weighing on trade.
The 2019 global growth rate would be the weakest since 2009, when the world economy shrank. It’s the third time the IMF has downgraded its outlook in six months.
The IMF also projects a moderation in Nigerian consumer prices to 11.7 percent in 2019 and 2020 from 12.1 percent in 2018.
Gita Gopinath, chief economist and director of the research department at the IMF disclosed this in the latest World Economic Outlook, at the ongoing IMF Spring meeting in Washington DC.
“Nigeria growth was reasonably strong last year and we think that things will improve a bit going forward,” Gopinath said at a press briefing in Washington.
The IMF said Brexit and softening oil prices are the main risks for Nigeria.
“What’s very important is the oil price so to the extent that other global risks transmit into a weaker oil price or there are other developments that are oil market specific that would be a factor weighing on Nigeria,” she said.
The IMF chief economist said the monetary policy of Nigeria needs to be tightened further. “For monetary policy, it’s to stay tight for some more time. It has to be well communicated and transparent”.
Hope Moses-Ashike in Washington DC
