Press zooms in on report that Nigeria, others slow Africa’s GDP growth by 65%, others

APA – Lagos (Nigeria)
The report that Nigeria, Egypt, and South Africa are responsible for 65 per cent of Africa’s Gross Domestic Product slowdown and that oil marketers are currently converting some of their trucks to start supplying gas to filling stations in order to dispense Compressed Natural Gas to vehicles that run on gas are some of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Friday.
The Punch reports that Nigeria, Egypt, and South Africa were responsible for 65 per cent of Africa’s Gross Domestic Product slowdown, McKinsey has disclosed.
The report, which was titled ‘Reimagining economic growth in Africa: Turning Diversity into Opportunity’, stated that Africa’s GDP by 2019 should have reached $3tn, not $2.6tn if the three countries had maintained their growth rate between 2000 and 2010.
It said, “Had Africa’s GDP continued to grow at the pace it achieved from 2000 to 2010, its GDP in 2019 would have been $3tn instead of $2.6tn. Fully 65 per cent of this difference can be explained by Africa’s ‘big three’ economies, with Egypt and Nigeria among the recent slowdowns and South Africa among the slow growers.”
According to the firm, Africa is home to the world’s youngest and fastest-growing population, yet its economic performance has lagged.
It noted that since 1990, the continent’s GDP per capita had only grown by one per cent annually, compared with India’s five per cent and China’s eight per cent.
It further stated that while 2000-2010 saw an acceleration in continental GDP, the growth retreated in 2010-2019.
Nigeria and 12 other African countries are home to 37 per cent of the continent’s population and accounted for 46 per cent of its GDP in 2019.
It explained that the slowing pace of these countries’ economic growth over the past decade affected the continent.
It said, “Between 2010 and 2019, growth in these countries did not keep pace with population growth—in the aggregate, 27 million more people in this cluster lived in poverty at the end of the period—and per capita consumption growth was stagnant at 0.8 per cent a year on average.”
The newspaper says that oil marketers are currently converting some of their trucks to start supplying gas to filling stations in order to dispense Compressed Natural Gas to vehicles that run on gas.
It was gathered on Thursday that about 800 tankers that formerly transported petrol to filling stations, were being converted by marketers to start moving gas to retail outlets.
The marketers also told our correspondent that they were now collocating CNG dispensing pumps in selected filling stations that dispensed Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol.
They stated that the move gained momentum after the halt in PMS subsidy by the Federal Government, following the announcement by President Bola Tinubu, on May 29, 2023, that ‘subsidy is gone’.
The Federal Government had been pushing for the use of CNG by motorists, as against the widespread consumption of PMS. Gas, according to operators, was not only cheaper than subsidised petrol but was cleaner and very abundant in Nigeria.
The National President, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Chinedu Okonkwo, said, “Some of my members have started signing up to dispense gas at their stations, as well as the collocation of gas in their outlets. One of the major independent marketers has given over 500 of his trailers for conversion to transport gas to filling stations.”
He, however, pleaded not to name the owners of the stations, explaining that the dealers would not want to have their names in print at the moment, in order not to expose their businesses.
The Guardian reports multinational oil and gas companies operating in Nigeria flared over 92 million standard cubic feet of gas, worth an estimated N150.8 billion, between January and April 2023.
The figure represents a 79.5 per cent increase against 50.3mscf of gas flared last year.
This was contained in a recent National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) report.
It stated also that the oil-producing firms responsible for this flaring are expected to pay penalties of $184.6 million (an equivalent of N85.7 billion) for breaching the gas flaring laws in the four months.
The report further noted that the volume of gas flared in the four months is equivalent to 4.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emission and has a power generation potential of 9,200 gigawatts of electricity per hour.
NOSDRA stated this on a month-on-month basis, saying the report covered January, February, March and April, and that 23.2 mscf, 27.1 mscf, 25.9 mscf and 16.1 mscf of gas were flared, respectively.
The newspaper says that the telecommunications and Information Services sector in Nigeria, in the first quarter of 2023, contributed N2.508 trillion, in terms of financial value contribution to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), representing 14.13 per cent.
Figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that the sector recorded a 4.3 per cent increase from its performance in the last quarter of 2022, when it recorded 13.55 per cent.
When compared on a year-on-year basis, the growth showed positive progression from 12.94 per cent in the first quarter of 2022 to the 2023 figure of 14.13, which is an approximate growth of 9.19 per cent.
According to a statement, yesterday, from the Nigerian Communications Commission, signed by Director of Public Affairs, Reuben Mouka, the percentage of telecoms contribution to GDP was calculated from 46 distinct sectors of the economy, which comprise telecoms and information services baskets.
The country’s telecoms industry has continued its show of positive outlook, which is credited to innovative and predictable regulatory environment promoted and implemented by the NCC.
One of the key highlights of the telecoms industry performance within the period was the generation of $820.8 million for the Federal Government from 5G spectrum licences fees paid by three eventual winning operators, MTN, Mafab and Airtel.
Following issuance of the licences in December 2021 to MTN and Mafab, both companies have launched 5G services. Airtel, which received its licence in December 2022, is set to launch services this month, June 2023.
Another major development in the sector was the launch of Starlinks broadband services, a satellite-based wireless broadband services with potential nationwide coverage. This followed the issuance of licence to the Elon Musk-owned SpaceX by the commission. The services are now available in different parts of the country.
GIK/APA