Nigeria’s economic fortunes record reversal since 2014 – Okonjo-Iweala

The Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Dr. (Mrs)Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said that Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth has been recording a steady decline since 2014.

Nigeria’s former Finance Minister disclosed this General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA on Sunday.

According to her, the implication of stagnating GDP growth has signaled a downturn in the economic well-being of the average Nigerian.

She explained that the country’s economic fortunes experienced a reversal following the decade between 2000 and 2014, during which the average GDP growth rate was approximately 3.8 percent with the nation’s population growth, which was only around 2.6% annually.

She, however, stressed that since 2014, the situation has reversed, with GDP showing a negative growth rate of 0.9%, as the government has been unable to sustain the positive growth achieved by previous administrations.

“For example, in the decade between 2000 and 2014, we have an average GDP growth rate of 3.8 percent well above our population growth rate of 2.6 per annum, meaning that people were on average truly improving their standard of living.

“During the following decade, average annual GDP per capita has been negative around minus 0.9 percent meaning people were worse off because we were not able to sustain prior positive growth momentum,” Okonjo-Iweala.