Nigeria’s economy exceeds World bank’s projection, grows by 2.27%
Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by at 2.27 percent, higher than the 1.91 percent growth rate recorded in 2018, the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said this morning.
The full-year 2019 figures are almost the same range predicted by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund of 2.0 and 2.3 percent.
Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 2.55 percent(year-on-year) in real terms in the fourth quarter of 2019, compared to the fourth quarter of 2018 which recorded a growth rate of 2.38percent.
This represents an increase of 0.17percent points and an increase of 0.27percent points when compared with the third quarter of 2019.
The strong fourth quarter 2019 growth rate also represented the highest quarterly growth performance since the 2016 recession.
Foreign reserves drop by $1.64bn in five weeks
The country’s foreign exchange reserves continued its downward trend as it dropped by $1.64bn from $38.34bn on January 15, 2020, to $36.69bn on February 20, latest figures from the Central Bank of Nigeria has revealed.
The apex bank disclosed that the reserves stood at $38.53bn on January 2, 2020.
According to the figures, the reserves dropped from $39.8bn on November 11, 2019, to $39.24bn on December 13, after falling by $1.26bn from $41.76bn on October 2 to $40.5bn as of the end of October.
The reserves dropped by $482.18m from N45.14bn as of July 8 to $44.65bn on August 8.
The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, said recently that Nigeria’s overdependence on crude oil for over 60 per cent of fiscal revenue and over 90 per cent of forex inflows meant that shocks in the oil market were transmitted entirely to the economy via the forex markets as manufacturers and traders who required forex for input purchases were faced with dwindling supplies.
Oil slump brings fresh headache for Nigeria as Coronavirus spreads further afield
Oil prices fell sharply on Monday following a surge in new Coronavirus cases and highlighting the severe risk market volatility poses to oil-dependent economies like Nigeria.
The price of Brent, the internationally traded oil benchmark fells as much 3.4% in early trading to $56.53 a barrel, pulled down by a drop in equities earlier in Asia.
Brent is now just $1.53 a barrel above Nigeria’s 2020 budget benchmark of $55.
Monday’s market selloff came after Italy imposed strict quarantine across at least ten towns as authorities there are battling to contain the biggest outbreak outside Asia.
No ban on domiciliary accounts deposits – CBN
The Central Bank of Nigeria has said that it has not prohibited the acceptance of foreign currency cash deposits by Deposit Money Banks.
In a statement on Sunday, the Director, Corporate Communications, CBN, Isaac Okorafor, clarified the uncertainties surrounding the operations of domiciliary accounts in Nigeria.
He said, “The bank has not prohibited the acceptance of foreign currency cash deposits by Deposit Money Banks.”
“Only electronic fund transfers into domiciliary accounts can be transferred from such accounts while cash deposits into such accounts can only be withdrawn in cash also.”
Okorafor, therefore, urged stakeholders and other interested parties to always endeavour to seek clarification on issues and avoid speculative tendencies which were detrimental to the financial system.
Buhari risks legacy as poverty pit swallows more Nigerians
Some three years to the end of his second term at the helm of affairs in Africa’s largest economy, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari doesn’t have the numbers on his side if he hopes to be remembered as either an anti-corruption hero, the one who finally diversified an ailing oil economy or as an economic messiah who paved the way for the majority of households and businesses.
Under Buhari’s watch, the country dropped two points in the Corruption Perceptions Index, a leading global indicator of public sector corruption, becoming the second most corrupt country in West Africa.
Official data also show that after the oil price shock of 2014, Nigeria has moved at a snail’s pace in weaning the economy off oil, analysts say.
These analysts make their case with data on crude oil exports as a percentage of total exports. In the first nine months of 2019, crude oil exports as a percentage of exports came to 76 percent, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
