IMF downgrades Nigeria’s economic growth to 2.9% for 2023

International Monetary Fund (IMF) has downgraded Nigeria’s economic growth by 2.9 per cent for 2023.

In July, the Fund had projected a 3.2 per cent growth for Nigeria in 2023.   The lender however warned that the growth would be impacted by security issues in the oil sector.

In its October World Economic Outlook with the themed, ‘Navigating Global Divergences,’ posted on its website Tuesday, the IMF said, “Growth in Nigeria is projected to decline from 3.3 per cent in 2022 to 2.9 per cent in 2023 and 3.1 per cent in 2024, with negative effects of high inflation on consumption taking hold.

“The forecast for 2023 is revised downward by 0.3 percentage point, reflecting weaker oil and gas production than expected, partially as a result of maintenance work.”

The International lender, while commenting on its new prediction for the country, said: “

For the sub-Saharan African region, growth is expected to decline to 3.3 per cent in 2023 due to worsening weather shocks, the global slowdown, and domestic supply issues, the IMF said.

 However, growth would pick up by 2024 to 4.0 per cent in 2024, which is still below the region’s historical average of 4.8 per cent.

It also stated that global economic growth was projected to slow from 3.5 per cent in 2022 to 3.0 per cent in 2023 and 2.9 per cent in 2024, well below the historical (2000–19) average of 3.8 per cent, the IMF declared.

“Advanced economies are expected to slow from 2.6 per cent in 2022 to 1.5 per cent in 2023 and 1.4 per cent in 2024 as policy tightening starts to bite. Emerging market and developing economies are projected to have a modest decline in growth from 4.1 per cent in 2022 to 4.0 per cent in both 2023 and 2024″, the IMF said.

The global financial institute stated that global inflation is expected to decelerate to 6.9 per cent in 2023 and 5.8 per cent in 2024 from the present 8.7 per cent in 2022.