The International Monetary Fund ( IMF) has projected that Nigeria’s economic growth will decline in 2023 and 2024 due to security issues in the oil sector.
It stated that the country’s economy would grow at 3.2 per cent in 2023, before declining to 3.0 per cent in 2024.
The IMF disclosed this in its latest ‘World Economic Outlook Update: Near-Term Resilience, Persistent Challenges (July 2023)’ report.
Nigeria’s growth is below projections for the Sub-Saharan African region which is expected to grow by 3.5 per cent in 2023 and 4.1 per cent in 2024, according to the report.
The IMF said, “In sub-Saharan Africa, growth is projected to decline to 3.5 per cent in 2023 before picking up to 4.1 per cent in 2024. Growth in Nigeria in 2023 and 2024 is projected to gradually decline, in line with April projections, reflecting security issues in the oil sector.
“In South Africa, growth is expected to decline to 0.3 per cent in 2023, with the decline reflecting power shortages, although the forecast has been revised upward by 0.2 percentage point since the April 2023 WEO, on account of resilience in services activity in the first quarter.”
Also, Nigeria’s economic growth projection for 2023 and 2024 did not change from the Washington-based lender’s projection of April 2023.