The Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed said the recession slid into by the Nigerian economy recently would be shot lived. Ahmed stated this today at the ongoing 26th Nigerian Economic Summit organized by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group and the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning.
She reiterated that the country would emerge stronger from the recession the country’s economy slid into in the fourth quarter of this year and hopefully it would be over by the first quarter of next year.
Accordingly, the National Bureau of Statistics reported last week that the Nigerian economy has entered into another recession in the third quarter of this year as the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fell for the second quarter.
According to the report, the GDP dropped by 3.62 percent in 3Q and 6.1 percent in the 2Q.
Although, the Minister stated that it was not peculiar to Nigeria as the world globally was struggling under the COVID-19, describing the recession as a COVID-19 induced which shall be over soon.
She said, “Let me remind us that before the impact of COVID-19, the Nigerian economy was experiencing sustained growth, which had been improving quarter by quarter until the second quarter of 2020 when the impact of the COVID-19 was felt,”
The Minister said even the economic giant like the United States and the United Kingdom has both slid into the recession, therefore, there is no cause for alarm, saying Nigeria is not alone in this for it has outperformed the greater giants.
According to her, South Africa recorded -50 percent in the 2Q and even greater in the 3Q compared to Nigeria that recorded -6.1 in the 3Q.
She explained that going by the trend of the record available, the recession would be short-lived as soon as the first quarter of the year 2021.
She further said, “Our expectation of a quick exit, which will be historically fast, is anchored on the several complementary fiscal, real sector and monetary interventions that have been proactively introduced by the government to forestall a far worse decline of the economy and alleviate the negative consequences of the pandemic.”
