IMF predicts growth for Nigeria’s economy

Economic growth in Nigeria will accelerate this year, driven by sectors outside its dominant energy industry, while inflation will continue its downward path, the International Monetary Fund said on Friday.

The economy is set to grow 7.3 per cent this year, up from 6.4 per cent in 2013, the IMF said, a more optimistic outlook than the Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s projection for 6.75 per cent growth. Cuts in...

Inflation will end the year at seven per cent, down from 7.9 per cent at the end of 2013, continuing a two-year downward trend supported by tight monetary policy, Reuters quoted the IMF as saying.

Nigeria plans this year to recalculate its gross domestic product, which could push it above South Africa as the continent’s biggest economy, although the rebasing has missed several deadlines already.

The IMF’s forecast does not account for the rebasing.

“Economic growth is expected to improve further in 2014, driven by agriculture, trade, and services,” the IMF said in a report following consultations with Nigerian officials.

“Inflation should continue to decline, with lower food prices from higher rice and wheat production and supported by a tight monetary policy and a budget execution that maintains medium-term consolidation objectives,” it said.

The IMF said there were risks to its projections, including the uncertain pace of the global recovery, lower oil prices and production, slow implementation of reforms and the continuation of a bloody Islamist insurgency in the north.