The World Bank has lowered its forecast for Nigeria’s economic growth in 2019 to 2.1 percent,
The Bank hinged its new forecast in the April 2019 issue of Africa’s Pulse on stagnant oil production, high inflation and policy distortions.
The new figure represents 0.1 percentage point lower than the 2.2 percent forecast made by the Bank in October 2018.
According to the World Bank’s bi-annual analysis of the state of African economies released on Monday, growth in Nigeria is projected to rise from 1.9 percent in 2018 to 2.1 percent in 2019 (0.1 percentage point lower than last October’s forecast).
It noted that this modest expansion reflects stagnant oil production, as regulatory uncertainty limits investment in the oil sector, while non-oil economic activity is held back by high inflation, policy distortions, and infrastructure constraints.
It added that growth is projected to rise slightly to 2.2 percent in 2020 and reach 2.4 percent in 2021 as improving financing conditions help boost investment.
The Bank also lowered its growth estimates for Sub-Saharan Africa to 2.8 percent in 2019 and 3.3 percent in 2020, citing slower growth in Nigeria, Angola and South Africa.
“Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa is forecast to recover to 2.8 percent in 2019 from the slowdown to 2.3 percent in 2018 and rise to 3.3 percent in 2020,: the report added.
GIK/APA