The Presidency has admitted that the rate of inflation and unemployment in<\/p>\n
the country remains “stubbornly” high but assures of hope in the face of
\nrecession.<\/p>\n
The Special Adviser to the President on Economic Matters, Dr Adeyemi
\nDipeolu, admitted this in a statement on the latest National Bureau of
\nStatistics’ report.<\/p>\n
Dipeolu’s statement was on Wednesday made available to State House
\nreporters by the Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media
\nand Publicity, Mr. Laolu Akande.<\/p>\n
Dipeolu stated: “The inflation rate remains high, but the good news is
\nthat the month-on-month rate of increase has fallen continuously over the
\npast three months. Unemployment remains stubbornly high which is usually
\nthe case during growth slowdowns and for reasons of a structural nature.”<\/p>\n
He, however, noted that barring unforeseen shocks, the areas given
\npriority by the Federal Government “are beginning to respond with
\nunderstandable time lags to policy initiatives.”<\/p>\n
According to him, as the emphasis on capital expenditure begins to yield
\nresults and the investment\/GDP numbers increase, the growth rate of the
\neconomy is likely to improve further.<\/p>\n
He said as these trends continued, “the outlook for the rest of the year
\nis that the Nigerian economy will beat the International Monetary Fund’s
\nprediction of 1.8% for the full year 2016.<\/p>\n
“The IMF had forecast a growth of -1.8% for 2016. However, the economy is
\nperforming better than the IMF estimates so far. For the half year, it
\nstands at -1.23% compared to an average of -1.80% expected on average by
\nthe IMF.<\/p>\n
“What is more, it is likely the second half will be better than the first
\nhalf of 2016. This is because many of the challenges faced in the first
\nhalf either no longer exist or have eased.”<\/p>\n
Dipeolu analysed thus “The just recently released data from the National
\nBureau of Statistics showed that Gross Domestic Product declined by -2.06%
\nin the second quarter of 2016 on a year-on-year basis.<\/p>\n
“A close look at the data shows that this outcome was mostly due to a
\nsharp contraction in the oil sector due to huge losses of crude oil
\nproduction as a result of vandalisation and sabotage.<\/p>\n
“However, the rest of the Q2 data is beginning to tell a different story.
\nThere was growth in the agricultural and solid minerals sectors which are
\nthe areas in which the Federal Government has placed particular priority.
\nAgriculture grew by 4.53% in the second quarter of 2016 as compared with
\n3.09% in the first quarter.<\/p>\n
“The metal ores sector showed similar performance with coal mining,
\nquarrying and other minerals also showing positive growth of over 2.5%.
\nNotably also, the share of investments in GDP increased to its highest
\nlevels since 2010, growing to about 17% of Gross Domestic Product. The
\nmanufacturing sector, though not yet truly out of the woods, is beginning
\nto show signs of recovery; while the service sector similarly bears
\nwatching.<\/p>\n
“Nevertheless, the data already shows a reduction in imports and an
\nincrease in local produced goods and services and this process will be
\nmaintained although it will start off slowly in these initial stages
\nbefore picking up later.”<\/p>\n
In his own remarks, the vice president’s spokesman, Akande, said though
\nthe just released GDP figures by the NBS for the second quarter confirmed
\na temporary decline, it also indicated a hopeful expectation in the
\neconomic trajectory.<\/p>\n
“Besides the growth recorded in the agriculture and solid mineral sectors,
\nthe Nigerian economy, in response to the policies of the Buhari
\nPresidency, is also doing better than what the IMF had estimated with
\nclear indications that the second half of the year would be even much
\nbetter,” he stated.<\/p>\n
Akande said the Presidency would continue to work diligently on the
\neconomy and engage all stakeholders to actively pursue beneficial policy
\ninitiatives and deliver dividends to Nigerians.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Presidency has admitted that the rate of inflation and unemployment in the country remains “stubbornly” high but assures of hope in the face of recession. The Special Adviser to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52749,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n