Godwin Emefiele
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has predicted that the
nation’s economy may emerge from recession in the first quarter of
2021.
CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, who made the prediction on Friday
during the 55th annual Bankers Dinner which held in Lagos, noted
that the expected economic growth was two per cent.
“With the sustained implementation of our intervention measures,
we do expect that the Nigerian economy could emerge from the
recession by the first quarter of 2021,” he said.
“We also expect that growth in 2021 would attain 2.0 per cent.
However, downside risks remain, as restoration of full economic
activities, particularly in service-related sectors, remains
uncertain until a COVID vaccine is produced and made available to
millions of people across the world.
“Second, with the significant rise in cases in advanced markets
and the imposition of lockdowns in parts of Europe, concerns remain
on the impact this could have on growth in advanced economies,
commodity prices and the financial markets.”
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The CBN governor also called for measures to “insulate our
economy from the impact of these shocks through our diversification
efforts, while also working to ensure that we adhere to safety
protocols in order to prevent a surge in COVID-19 related cases, as
this could further cripple economic activities.
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“Our actions in 2021 would be guided by the considerations that
emerged from the Monetary Policy Committee meeting of November 23 &
24, 2020, which sought to address the major headwinds exerting
downward pressure on output growth and upward pressure on domestic
prices.”
Emefiele’s remarks come six days after Nigeria’s economy slipped
into another recession, the second of its kind in a space of four
years.
According to a new report released by the Nigeria Bureau of
Statistics on November 21, the economy shrank again in the third
quarter of this year.
The nation’s economy maintained a second consecutive negative
growth after contracting by 3.62 per cent in the third quarter.
The cumulative Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the first nine
months of 2020, therefore, stood at -2.48 per cent just as it
recorded a -6.10 per cent in the second quarter.