Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, has raised hope for Nigerians, following the most recent recession announced last weekend.
Ahmed said the current recession, which the Nigerian economy recently slid into, will be short-lived, adding that the country would emerge from the recession in the fourth quarter of this year or by the first quarter of 2021.
She spoke on Monday at the ongoing 26th Nigerian Economic Summit organised by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group and the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning.
Nigeria entered its second recession in five years in the third quarter of this year as the Gross Domestic Product fell for the second consecutive quarter. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the GDP dropped by 3.62 per cent in the third quarter and 6.10 per cent in the second quarter.
She said, “Let me remind us that before the impact of COVID-19, the Nigerian economy was experiencing sustained growth, which had been improving quarter by quarter until the second quarter of 2020, when the impact of the COVID-19 was felt.”
“Nigeria is not alone in this, but I will say that Nigeria has outperformed all of these economies in terms of the record of a negative growth. While the economy has entered into recession in the third quarter, the trend of the growth suggests that this will be a short-lived recession, and indeed by the fourth or, at worst, the first quarter of 2021, the country will exit recession.
“Our expectation of a quick exit, which will be historically fast, is anchored on the several complementary fiscal, real sector and monetary interventions that have been proactively introduced by government to forestall a far worse decline of the economy and alleviate the negative consequences of the pandemic.”