Nigerian economy shows signs of recovery

Nigerian economy has indicated signs of steady growth although at slow rate, as it wriggle out of economic recession.First quarter GDP figures for 2017 showed that the agricultural sector has continued to experience sustained growth, at the same time which the manufacturing and non-oil sectors, too, have bounced back to normalcy.  Other sectors have also recorded a reduction in negative growth.Presidential Adviser on Economic Matters, Adeyemi Dipeolu said: “The latest figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics shows that the economy shrank by 0.52% in the first quarter of 2017”.“Although the economy remains in recession this is the strongest performance in five quarters and shows a significant turnaround from the low of -2.34% reached in the third quarter of 2016 (Q3 2016).”“This is nearly two percentage point improvement and also reflects the fact that the number of sub-sectors that experienced negative growth has almost halved falling from 29 sub-sectors for the whole of 2016 to 16 sub-sectors in Q1 2017,” he added.It is commendable that agricultural growth has been sustained, although it is at a slower rate of about 3.4% owing to traceable seasonal factors.Growth was noticed in the manufacturing sector however, following five quarters of undesirable growth. In the first quarter of 2017, it grew by 1.36% after a fall to an all-time low of -7.0% in first quarter of 2016.The solid mineral sector is responding to government’s concentrated attention on it with a double digit growth for metal ores and quarrying, put at 40.79 percent and 52.54 accordingly.The oil sector, ranking among the negative growing sectors is unchanged at 11.46 percent despite there was more than six percent point increase in turnover in the last quarter.It is graceful to note that the non-oil sector aggregating about 90% of GDP bounced back to its growing spree but at a minimal rate of 0.72% in first quarter of 2017. This is regarded as the non-oil sector’s first positive growth since the last quarter of 2015.Inflation dropped in three months at a stretch to 17.24 percent involving core inflation reducing fairly well.“However, food inflation remains of concern as it continues to trend upwards.  This is mainly due to rising transport costs and other structural impediments to the movement of foods in the domestic market.  The trade balance remained positive reflecting import contraction and relatively higher export revenues which grew year-on-year by up to 80.5%.“This outlook is reinforced by positive trends in other indicators such as improved oil prices and increasing production, rising foreign exchange reserves, increased capital spending by the Federal Government as well as improved perceptions reflected in various purchasing and sales managers’ indices.  Barring major economic shocks, it should still be possible to restore growth this year as projected in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan.”