Global monetary agency, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revealed that Nigeria’s economy will expand faster than its earlier projection. In a World Economic Outlook report released on Tuesday at the ongoing spring meetings of the IMF and World Bank Group, the agency opined that the nation's economy will grow by 2.1% in 2019.
“In sub-Saharan Africa, growth is expected to pick up to 3.5 percent in 2019 and 3.7 percent in 2020 (from 3.0 percent in 2018),” the report reads.
“The projection is 0.3 percentage point and 0.2 percentage point lower for 2019 and 2020, respectively, than in the October 2018 WEO, reflecting downward revisions for Angola and Nigeria with the softening of oil prices.
“Growth prospects for commodity exporters are weighed down by the soft outlook for commodity prices, including for Nigeria and Angola, where growth is expected to reach about 2.6 percent and 3.9 percent, respectively, in the medium term.”
Oya Celasun, a senior official with the IMF’s research department said Brexit and softening oil prices are the main risks to Nigeria’s economy in the short term.
“We expect a growth recovery, growth was reasonably strong last year and we think that things will improve a bit going forward.”
