RECESSION: Nigerias Economy is Rebounding, says Presidency

The Presidency has said that the Nigerian economy is rebounding out of reces­sion, considering the 2016 over­all and last quarter Gross Domes­tic Product (GDP) reports.
This was its response to the GDP figures released on Tuesday by the National Bureau of Statis­tics (NBS), which showed a con­traction of -1.30% in the fourth quarter of 2016, translating into an estimated economic growth rate of -1.51% for the full year.

According to the Presidential Adviser on Economic Matters, Dr. Adeyemi Dipeolu, the econ­omy performed better overall last year as the growth rate was higher with a contraction at -1.5% than the -1.8% predicted by the IMF.
He declared that this has raised the hope that the recession may have bottomed out with the improving trends in the key sec­tors of the economy, including agriculture and mining.
A Presidency statement is­sued yesterday explained that the administration is also hope­ful that with the ongoing series of engagement with the oil-pro­ducing communities in the Niger Delta, the increased oil produc­tion output would be sustained.
Similarly, the ongoing implementation of the Social Investment Programmes, the significant infrastructural spending of the Federal Government, and a possible early legislative passage of the 2017 Budget are all expected to spur a positive multiplier effect on the economy.
The administration also vowed not to relent in its effort to bring about the full recovery of the Nigerian economy and set it on the path of sustainable growth.
Dipeolu’s statement read in part: “The recently released data from the National Bureau of Sta­tistics showed that Gross Domes­tic Product (GDP) contracted by -1.30% in the fourth quarter of 2016. This translated into an es­timated growth rate of -1.51% for the full year 2016.
“These figures reflect the slow-down in the economy for most of 2016 but also show that the recession may have bot­tomed out because of an improv­ing trend in several key sectors.
“Although the oil sector de­clined by -12.38% on a year on year basis, this was a relative improvement compared to the third quarter when the decline amounted to -22.01%.
“This outcome was due mainly to increases in production such that the quarter on quarter growth for the oil sector between the third and fourth quarters was 8.07%.
“The non-oil sector however declined by 0.33% after showing some resilience in the third quar­ter when it grew by 0.03% at the height of the recession.
“Agriculture grew at 4.03% in the fourth quarter of 2016 which was a marginal decrease from the 4.54% growth in the third quar­ter. This is mainly because ag­riculture (especially crop pro­duction, which accounts for the bulk of agricultural production) is highly seasonal, with growth in the third quarter of the year usu­ally higher than the others.
“Nevertheless, the overall outcome for the year was that the agricultural sector grew by 4.11% for the whole of 2016 which was higher than the figure of 3.72% for 2015.
“The manufacturing sector actually grew on a quarter on quarter basis by 1.89% but de­clined over the year by 4.32% reflecting the problems that the sector faced in the course of the year due to a combination of fac­tors including the depreciation in the exchange rate and higher en­ergy costs.
“The metal ores sub-sector grew by 7.03% in Q4 of 2016 as compared to 6.93% in the last quarter of 2015, thus justifying the priority that the Federal Gov­ernment continues to give to sol­id minerals.
“The services sector, which accounted for 53.55% of GDP in 2016, experienced a decline in growth by -0.82% over the year as compared to a growth of 4.78% in 2015,” he said.

(Authority Newspapers)