Francis Ajuonuma with the agency reports
Despite Nigeria’s government decision to end its oil subsidy regime with effect from July 1, 2023, the World Bank in its latest report has projected the West African country’s economy to grow slowly by 2.8 per cent in 2023, down from 3.3 per cent in 2022, and to rise to 3.0 per cent in 2024.
The growth would accelerate further to 3.1 per cent in 2025.
Recall that last Friday, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) revealed that the country spends over N400 billion monthly on petroleum subsidy which could have been used in other sector to boost the country’s economy.
However, global growth for 2023, according to the World Bank forecast dropped to 2.1 per cent, from 3.1 per cent it achieved in 2022 but expected to grow to 2.4 per cent in 2024.
“Growth over the rest of 2023 is set to slow substantially as it is weighed down by the lagged and ongoing effects of monetary tightening, and more restrictive credit conditions,” the report said.
“These factors are envisaged to continue to affect activity heading into next year, leaving global growth below previous projections.”
The bank predicted global growth rebounding to 3.0 per cent in 2025.
In January, the World Bank had warned that global GDP was slowing to the brink of recession, but since then, strength in the labor market and consumption in the US had exceeded expectations as has China’s recovery from Covid-19 lockdowns.
US growth for 2023 is now forecast at 1.1 per cent, more than double the 0.5 per cent forecast in January, while China’s growth is expected to climb to 5.6 per cent, compared to a 4.3 per cent forecast in January after Covid-reduced growth of 3 per cent in 2022.
The bank, however, halved its previous 2024 U.S. growth forecast for the U.S. to 0.8 per cent, and cut China’s forecast by 0.4 percentage point to 4.6 per cent.
The euro zone got a forecast increase to 0.4 per cent growth for 2023 from a flat outlook in January, but the forecast for next year was also cut slightly.
