Adeosun says there’s no need to panic about IMF’s recession prediction

Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, on Thursday assured Nigerians that the nation would only face a short recession if the nation’s economy contracts again in the second quarter as the removal of fuel subsidies and policies to lower dependency on oil will pay off.

It would be recalled that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Tuesday that Nigeria’s economy may shrink by 1.8 percent this year due to a slump in oil prices and a shortage of hard currency.

Gross domestic product contracted by 0.36 percent in the first quarter of the year and the Central Bank of Nigeria’s governor has said that a recession appears to be imminent.

According to her, “I think if we are in recession, what I will like to say is that we are going to come out of it and it is going to be a short one. I don’t think we should panic,” she said.

Giving what can be called government’s first official reaction to IMF forecast while briefing the journalists after appearing before the Senate in Abuja where she appeared to offer explanations on the state of the nation’s economy.

The Minister said government measures such as the lifting of fuel subsidies and boosting of non-oil production would give the economy a fillip. “Agriculture output seems to be up,” she said.

“We were subsidising around 45 million litres of fuel per day. These are real savings to the economy which we are now redirecting into the essential infrastructure that will keep the economy going.” She explained.