IMF Delivers Good and Bad News On Nigerian Economy

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday gave the thumbs up to the Nigerian economy that it judged as gradually recovering from the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, the IMF dropped the bad news about employment falling below pre-pandemic levels, while inflation remained high owing to galloping food prices.

Team lead of the IMF mission to Nigeria Ms Jesmin Rahman, who led staff virtual meetings with Nigerian authorities, dropped these submissions in a statement on Friday in Washington D. C.

The meeting, which was held from June 1 to 8, was to discuss recent economic, financial developments and outlook of the country.

Rahman commended the Federal Government’ measures to contain the transmission of COVID-19 in Nigeria, including the ongoing vaccination programme under the COVAX initiative.

She also supported the Federal Government’s efforts to acquire additional doses from countries with surplus stocks.

According to Rahman, following sharp output contractions in the second and third quarters, Gross Domestic Product growth turned positive in Q4 2020 and growth reached 0.5 percent (year-on-year) in Q1 2021.

This, she said, was supported by agriculture and services sectors.

She added that although imports were rebounding faster than exports, foreign investor appetite remained subdued resulting in continued foreign exchange shortage.

The team lead said the incipient recovery in economic activity was projected to take root and broaden among sectors, with GDP growth expected to reach 2.5 percent in 2021.