The World Bank has maintained Nigeria’s economic growth in 2020 will be 2.1 percent contrary to the 2.93 percent projected in Nigeria’s 2020 budget.
The World Bank maintained its Global Economic Prospects which was released recently. This is consistent with its 2019 projections that Nigeria economy will grow by 2.1 percent up to 2021.
The Bank in its World Bank’s Nigeria Economic Update (NEU) Report in 2019 had said that Nigeria’s “economy is recovering gradually from the 2016 recession, with growth projected to pick up from 1.9 percent in 2018 to 2 percent in 2019 and 2.1 percent in 2020-21.”
In the latest report, the bank predicts Nigeria’s economy will still grow by the same margin in 2023.
The report suggested that growth in Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to peak at 2.9 per cent in 2020.
But the projected growth in the sub-region will depend on improvement in investor confidence in some large economies, ease of energy bottlenecks, rise in oil production and improved agricultural commodity exports.
“In Angola, Nigeria, and South Africa – the three largest economies in the region – growth was subdued in 2019, remaining well below historical averages and contracting for a fifth consecutive year on a per capita basis” the report said.
The bank tasked Nigerian policy makers and other developing economies to undertake structural reforms that boost broad-based growth.
“Steps to improve the business climate, the rule of law, debt management, and productivity can help achieve sustained growth,” it added.
Also, World Bank Prospects Group Director, Ayhan Kose, said policy improvements would help to minimise the risks associated with the current debt wave in a fragile global economy.
The report also indicated that growth among advanced economies would decline to 1.4 percent in 2020 while growth in emerging markets and developing economies is expected to accelerate to 4.1 percent in 2020.
