The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has forecast that the Nigerian economy will grow by 3.2 percent in 2023, up from the 3.1 percent it previously projected in April this year.
The IMF, which released its World Economic Outlook report on Tuesday, left its 2022 growth projection for Africa’s biggest economy unchanged at 3.4 percent.
Read also:Nigeria among countries transparent on IMF pandemic funding
“The outlooks for countries in the Middle East and Central Asia and sub-Saharan Africa remain on average unchanged or positive, reflecting the effects of elevated fossil fuel and metal prices for some commodity-exporting countries,” the Washington-based fund said in the report.
Sub-Saharan Africa’s projection was left unchanged at 3.8 percent for the year 2022 and is expected to increase to 4 percent in 2023.
However, the IMF cut its global economic projections for 2022 and 2023 to 3.2 percent and 2.9 percent GDP rate. This marks a downgrade of 0.4 and 0.7 percentage points, respectively, from April.
The IMF said the revised outlook indicated that the downside risks outlined in its earlier report were now occurring. Among those challenges are soaring global inflation, a worse-than-expected slowdown in China, and the ongoing fallout from the war in Ukraine.
“The global economy, still reeling from the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, is facing an increasingly gloomy and uncertain outlook,” said Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, IMF’s economic counsellor.
“Higher-than-expected inflation, especially in the United States and major European economies, is triggering a tightening of global financial conditions. China’s slowdown has been worse than anticipated amid COVID-19 outbreaks and lockdowns, and there have been further negative spillovers from the war in Ukraine.”
Global inflation is now forecast to hit 6.6 percent in advanced economies and 9.5 percent in emerging market and developing economies this year. This is an upward revision of 0.9 and 0.8 percentage points, respectively.
