Nigeria will get out of recession by Dec, says Standard Chartered

Standard Chartered Global Research, an arm of Standard Chartered Bank, shows that Nigeria, the second largest economy in Africa, would have grown by 1.6 percent by the end of 2016.

In its adjusted gross domestic product (GDP) forecast for 2016, Standard Chartered showed that Nigeria’s economy will grow at a faster pace than South Africa, which is expected to grow at 0.6 percent.

With such growth, Nigeria would have successfully got itself out of the present technical recession, declared by Kemi Adeosun.

On Thursday, South Africa overtook Nigeria as Africa’s largest economy, with a GDP of $301 billion.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in July, that the west African country would see its economy shrink by 1.8 percent in 2016.

“The outlook for other emerging market and developing economies remains diverse,” IMF said in a statement.

“Growth projections were revised down substantially in sub-Saharan Africa, reflecting challenging macroeconomic conditions in its largest economies, which are adjusting to lower commodity revenues.

“In Nigeria, economic activity is now projected to contract in 2016, as the economy adjusts to foreign currency shortages as a result of lower oil receipts, low power generation, and weak investor confidence.

“These revisions for the largest low-income country are the main reason for the downgrade in growth prospects for the low-income developing countries group.”

After admitting the presence of a prevailing recession, the Nigerian government however expressed optimism, that the country’s economy will grow by over three percent in 2016.

The Nigerian economy declined by 0.36 percent in the first quarter of 2016, with the second quarter results billed to be released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on August 31.