The Governor of Central Bank, Mr Godwin Emefiele, has projected that Nigeria could exit recession by the first quarter of 2021. He also projected a GDP growth of 2.0 percent in 2021.
Emefiele spoke on Friday at the 55th Annual Bankers Dinner organised by the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) in Lagos.
He said given the impact of COVID-19 on key economic variables such as crude oil, the fiscal and monetary authorities had taken unprecedented measures to prevent long-term damage to the growth prospects of the economy.
“A sectoral assessment of economic activities in the third quarter indicates that the economy witnessed positive growth in key sectors such as Information and Communications Technology, Agriculture, Health, Construction, Finance and Insurance and Public Administration.
“With sustained implementation of our intervention measures, we do expect that the Nigerian economy could emerge from the recession by the first quarter of 2021, due to high frequency data that indicates continued improvements in the non-oil sector of our economy.”
“We also expect that growth in 2021 would attain 2.0 percent”, he said.
Emefiele said also that the Nigerian Stock Exchange All Share index rose by 65 percent between April and November 2020, reflecting improved sentiments by investors on the fundamentals of publicly listed companies.
As a result of these measures, Emefiele said that GDP growth in the third quarter, improved to -3.6 percent from -6.1 percent in quarter two, even though the economy fell back into a recession.
He said downside risks remain in service related sectors as restoration of full economic activities looms , despite COVID vaccine being produced and made available to millions of people across the world.
The CBN governor also noted that the bank’s actions in 2021 would be guided by the considerations that emerged from the Monetary Policy Committee meeting of Nov. 23 and Nov. 24, which sought to address the major headwinds exerting downward pressure on output growth and upward pressure on domestic prices.
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