Nigeria’s economy has turned the corner and is now firmly on the path of growth, Budget and National Planning Minister, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma said in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, on Wednesday.
In a tweet via the Budget and National Planning Ministry’s Twitter handle, the minister pointed to the recently released fourth quarter numbers by the National Bureau of Statistics.
The minister reportedly told a gathering of Nigeria Union of Journalists Press Centre, that the report showed the strongest performance since the economy emerged from recession.
“It shows that 39 out of 46 economic activities are now growing. Agriculture is growing; Manufacturing is growing, and Services has recorded its best performance in 11 Quarters. Particularly notable is the fact that the growth is driven by the non-oil sector which has recorded its strongest growth since the fourth quarter of 2015. In short, we have turned the corner and are now firmly on the path of growth,” he said.
Senator Udoma said the current real GDP growth performance is most encouraging and shows a movement in a very positive direction, especially with regard to the non-oil sector performance; and assured that with the Buhari Administration’s continuing commitment to the implementation of the ERGP, the economy is expected to further strengthen in 2019, and over the medium term.
He explained that at inception the administration faced real crisis in the economy which included a sharp drop in oil revenues with consequent fiscal challenges as the Federal Government had to struggle to meet its commitments while many States were unable to pay salaries on a regular basis.
“Investors and businessmen complained about the difficulties they encountered in doing business in Nigeria; Foreign reserves had dropped from $37.33 billion in June 2014 to $23.81 billion in September 2016 and inflation had risen from 9.2% in June 2015 and peaked at 18.5% in December 2016 coupled with exchange rate instability as the Naira lost value in the parallel market, ultimately falling to as low as N520/US$,” he enthused.
These, he further explained, led to the economy dipping into recession by the second quarter of 2016 registering GDP contraction of -1.49% from where it dipped further to -2.34% by the third quarter. Government had to take immediate steps to stop the economic drift and reverse the collapse, he added.
