The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected that Nigeria’s economy will grow faster than South African economy in the 2018 fisca...
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected that Nigeria’s economy will grow faster than South African economy in the 2018 fiscal year, despite Nigeria’s inflation rate of 16.10 per cent in June, 2017.
The IMF made the recent projection in its World Economic Outlook (WEO) for July 2017, where it stated that Nigeria will grow at 1.9 per cent in 2018, while South Africa will only leap by 1.2 per cent, Vanguard reports.
According to its forecast for 2017, the Nigeria economy was expected to grow by 0.8 per cent, while that of South Africa’s was projected at 1 per cent.
According to its projections: “In sub-Saharan Africa, the outlook remains challenging. Growth is projected to rise in 2017 and 2018 but will barely return to positive territory in per capita terms this year for the region as a whole and would remain negative for about a third of the countries in the region.
“The slight upward revision to 2017 growth relative to the April 2017 WEO forecast reflects a modest upgrading of growth prospects for South Africa, which is experiencing a bumper crop due to better rainfall and an increase in mining output prompted by a moderate rebound in commodity prices.”
The IMF stated that elevated political uncertainty and weak consumer and business confidence possess difficulty for South Africa whose growth forecast was marked down for 2018.
The organisation forecasted that global growth will be aided by growths in the US and the UK, who are projected to grow at 2.1 per cent and 1.5 per cent respectively.
It said: “China’s growth projections have also been revised up (6.7 per cent), reflecting a strong first quarter of 2017 and expectations of continued fiscal support.
“Inflation in advanced economies remains subdued and generally below targets; it has also been declining in several emerging economies, such as Brazil, India and Russia.”
Accompanied by several governors and ministers, an excited Osinbajo was freely interacting with the entrepreneurs who displayed their products at the venue.
In his remarks at the event, Professor Osinbajo stated that the future of the Nigerian economy lies in the small and medium scale enterprises.
The acting president however noted that it is not enough for the MSMEs to produce and manufacture, stressing that government must do its own part to support them.
He stated that government has a key role to play in creating an environment for businesses to prosper and for businesses to make good.
COMMENTS