Musings From Abroad

Nigeria: World Bank predicts 3.3% economic growth in 2024

Published

10 months ago

January 25, 2024

The World Bank, in its latest report titled, “Global Economic Prospect: Subdued Growth, Multiple Challenges,” has predicted that Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product will grow by 3.3% in 2024 and 3.7% in 2025.

The largest economy in Africa is expected to grow by 3.3% in 2024, according to the bank, rather than the 2.9% predicted for 2023. According to the study results, “As macro-fiscal reforms gradually bear fruit, growth in Nigeria is projected at 3.3% this year and 3.7 percent in 2025—up 0.3 and 0.6 percentage points, respectively, since June.”

“The baseline forecast implies that per capita income will reach its pre-pandemic level only in 2025.”

Since taking office, President Bola Tinubu has implemented a number of reforms, which include the elimination of fuel subsidies and efforts towards the harmonization of foreign exchange rates.

The Washington-based bank credited the growth in momentum to the present macro-fiscal reforms’ gradual realization, and predicted that commerce, services, building, and agriculture would propel the nation’s economic expansion.

The 2023 State of Global Food and Nutrition Security report states that there has been a 133% increase in food insecurity among Nigerians in just three years. Between 2020 and 2022, the number increased from 63.8 million in 2014 to 148.7 million in 2022.

“Inflation should gradually ease as the effects of last year’s exchange rate reforms and the removal of fuel subsidies fade. These structural reforms are expected to boost fiscal revenue over the forecast period,” the World Bank declared.

It stated that the disruptive currency demonetization policy—which involves replacing outdated, high-denomination naira notes—was to blame for the anticipated 2.9% softening of the Nigerian economy in 2023.

The World Bank also revealed that “growth in the region’s three largest economies—Nigeria, South Africa, and Angola—slowed to an average of 1.8% last year, holding back the region’s overall growth.

Africa’s fiscal conditions would continue to deteriorate in 2023 due to high public debt and a low domestic tax base, according to the United Nations’ “World Economic Situation and Prospects 2024” study.

“Efforts to increase in-country oil refining capacity would likely reduce domestic fuel costs in 2024 and beyond. Energy subsidy reforms in Nigeria, Angola, and Gambia, as well as tax hikes in Kenya, Ghana, and South Africa, aim to provide the government with some relief from tight fiscal spaces,” the UN stated.

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Musings From Abroad

Nigeria, India to strengthen counterterrorism, maritime security cooperation

Published

1 day ago

November 18, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

During a state visit to Nigeria on Sunday, Indian Prime Minister, Narendra, Modi reached an agreement, on behalf of his country, to strengthen cooperation in counterterrorism, intelligence, and maritime security.

President Bola Tinubu invited Modi to visit Nigeria, the first Indian prime minister to do so in 17 years.

Tinubu is looking for investments from some of the largest economies in the world.

In addition to discussing economic development, defence, healthcare, and food security, Modi and Tinubu met at the presidential mansion on Sunday after arriving in the capital, Abuja, on Saturday night, according to a joint statement.

The two nations decided to work together to protect maritime trade routes and fight piracy in response to the mounting risks in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Guinea.

The most populous country in Africa, Nigeria, is looking to attract more Indian investment and lower-cost credit lines in order to strengthen its economy and generate employment.

Nigeria announced last year that it had obtained about $14 billion in pledges from Indian businesses, including Jindal Steel and Power, which promised to spend $3 billion in Nigeria’s steel industry, during the G20 conference.

Over 200 Indian businesses are present in Nigeria.

Modi was scheduled to go to Brazil for this year’s G20 conference after Nigeria.

Nigeria and India have a long-standing and cordial bilateral relationship. Nigeria, home to more than 200 million people, and India, home to 1.3 billion people, are both sizable emerging nations with multilingual, multiethnic, and multireligious communities.

Musings From Abroad

Military advisors from Russia arrive Equatorial Guinea

Published

2 days ago

November 17, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Russian military advisors are in Equatorial Guinea training indigenous soldiers.

Anonymous sources cited by Reuters during the week claim that between 100 and 200 Russian instructors are training with elite guards in charge of guarding the President and the first family.

The males had been seen in Malabo, the country’s capital, and Bata, its second city. Reports of Russian forces stationed in the nation initially appeared in August.

Oil-rich Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo has maintained close relations with Moscow.

Nguema travelled to Moscow in September to attend the Russian Energy Week International Forum.

Russia has strengthened military connections with African countries, sending advisors and combat soldiers to the Central African Republic, Mozambique, Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso.

Faced with an Islamist terrorist insurrection, three Sahel countries have turned to Moscow for support, expelling French and American troops.