IMF projects 2.5% economic growth for Nigeria in 2021

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has predicted a 2.5 percent growth for the Nigerian economy in 2021.

In its April World Economic Outlook released on Tuesday, the Bretton Woods institution also projected a 3.4 percent growth for Sub-Saharan Africa in 2021.

The IMF previously projected 1.5 percent growth for Nigeria and 0.2 percent for the region this year.

Nigeria exited recession in the fourth quarter of last year after recording 0.11 percent growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) during the period.

The report read: “Following a sharp drop in 2020, only a mild and multispeed recovery is expected in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2021. Thanks to the global manufacturing rebound in the second half of 2020, growth exceeded expectations in some large exporting countries in the region (for example, Argentina, Brazil, Peru) bringing the 2021 forecast to 4.6 percent (a 1 percentage point revision).

“The longer-term outlook continues to depend on the path of the pandemic, however. With some exceptions (for example, Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico), most countries have not secured enough vaccines to cover their populations.

“Moreover, 2021 projections for the tourism-dependent Caribbean economies have been revised down by 1.5 percentage points to 2.4 percent. The pandemic continues to exact a large toll on sub-Saharan Africa (especially, for example, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa). Following the largest contraction ever for the region (–1.9 percent in 2020), growth is expected to rebound to 3.4 percent in 2021, significantly lower than the trend anticipated before the pandemic. Tourism-reliant economies will likely be the most affected.”