A former Director- General, West African Institute of Financial and Economic Management, Prof Akpan Ekpo, has said that Nigeria\u2019s economy needs urgent structural transformation.<\/p>\n
Ekpo stated this in Lagos on Thursday while reviewing the 2018 economy and the expectations for 2019 at the Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting.<\/p>\n
Commenting on the Gross Domestic Product statistics for the third quarter of 2018, the economist, who was also the guest speaker at the breakfast meeting, noted that the sub-sectors that were supposed to create jobs all recorded negative growth.<\/p>\n
He listed the sectors as motor vehicle assembly plants, banking and financial services, real estate and others.<\/p>\n
He noted that manufacturing in Nigeria was all about packaging, bottling and assemblying.<\/p>\n
He said, \u201cThe economy is still at the primary stage of production. It has not been transformed structurally. The economy did not do well in 2018.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the outlook for the economy in 2019, Ekpo said that the economy would grow by three per cent if there was improvement in its management.<\/p>\n
He observed, however, that a lot of things were still left unattended to, such as the 2019 budget that had yet to be passed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt becomes embarrassing to see that in January there is no budget. The National Assembly will not discuss the budget until March.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe budget is an economic document. Investors look at it to make decisions. Delay in the budget approval affects the forecasting model,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Ekpo added that there were multiple exchange rates in the system although there had been stability in the foreign exchange market.<\/p>\n
He described the unemployment rate which was put at 55 per cent as \u201ca time bomb that had already exploded\u201d saying that unless the situation changed, Nigeria\u2019s economic growth would be impaired.<\/p>\n
The economist listed other factors that might affect the performance of the economy as the approaching general elections, Nigeria\u2019s growing population without corresponding growth in per capita income, the global situation such as the trade war between the United States of America and China and the Brexit.<\/p>\n
In his welcome address, the National President, NACC, Otunba Toyin Akomolafe, said that the topic of the breakfast meeting was timely.<\/p>\n
He said, \u201cAccording to the World Bank, Nigeria\u2019s GDP growth has remained largely unimpressive and still exhibits the same pattern of the pre-crisis period of 2017.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs of the third quarter of 2018, the combination of unemployment and underemployment rates have reached an all-time high of 43.3 per cent, with an estimated 49.1 per cent of the country\u2019s population living below the poverty line.<\/p>\n
\u201cHence, staying well informed and understanding the implications of the changes that had occurred, the measures to be employed and the prospect for the future are important to us all.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that the chamber would continue to promote the development of trade, commerce, investment and industrial technological relationships between the public and private sectors of Nigeria and the US.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A former Director- General, West African Institute of Financial and Economic Management, Prof Akpan Ekpo, has said that Nigeria\u2019s economy needs urgent structural transformation. Ekpo stated this in Lagos on Thursday while reviewing the 2018 economy and the expectations for 2019 at the Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting. Commenting on the Gross Domestic Product […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":1356,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,15,28],"tags":[328,106,314],"class_list":["post-4214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","category-homepage-english","tag-bank","tag-economy","tag-finance"],"yoast_head":"\n