IMF says Nigeria out of recession in 2017

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that Nigeria will be out economy recession in 2017, projecting that the nation’s economy will grow by 0.6 per cent next year.

According to the IMF World Economic Outlook (WEO) released on Tuesday in Washington, U.S.A., IMF equally projected that the recession will outlast 2016 with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contraction of 1.7 percent.

According to IMF, “Sub-Saharan Africa’s largest economies continue to struggle with lower commodity revenues, weighing on growth in the region”.

“Nigeria’s economy is forecast to shrink 1.7 percent in 2016 and South Africa’s will barely expand. By contrast, several of the region’s non resource exporters, including Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Senegal are expected to continue to grow at a robust pace of more than five percent this year.”

IMF also forecasted a GDP contraction and subsequent recession for Russia and Brazil throughout 2016, adding that growth in emerging Asia and especially India continues to be resilient.

“India’s gross domestic product is projected to expand 7.6 percent this year and next, the fastest pace among the world’s major economies.”

IMF Chief Economist and Economic Counsellor Maurice Obstfeld, who spoke on the outlook, said global economic growth would remain subdued in 2016 following a slowdown in the United States of America and Britain’s vote to leave the European Union.

Obstfeld also stated that the fund forecasted a slight pickup in 2017 and beyond, driven mainly by emerging market strength.“Taken as a whole, the world economy has moved sideways. We have slightly marked down 2016 growth prospects for advanced economies while marking up those in the rest of the world.”

IMF had earlier projected that Nigeria’s economy would contract by 1.8 percent in 2016, but the October version of the WEO has seen that reviewed positively to a contraction of only 1.7 percent.

The country has recorded a 0.36 and 2.06 percent contraction in the first and second quarter of 2016 respectively, placing the country in its worst recession in 29 years.