Economic growth in Nigeria will
accelerate this year, driven by sectors outside its dominant energy
industry, while inflation will continue its downward path, the
International Monetary Fund said on Friday.
The economy is set to grow 7.3 per cent
this year, up from 6.4 per cent in 2013, the IMF said, a more optimistic
outlook than the Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s projection
for 6.75 per cent growth.
Inflation will end the year at seven per
cent, down from 7.9 per cent at the end of 2013, continuing a two-year
downward trend supported by tight monetary policy, Reuters quoted the
IMF as saying.
Nigeria plans this year to recalculate
its gross domestic product, which could push it above South Africa as
the continent’s biggest economy, although the rebasing has missed
several deadlines already.
The IMF’s forecast does not account for the rebasing.
“Economic growth is expected to improve
further in 2014, driven by agriculture, trade, and services,” the IMF
said in a report following consultations with Nigerian officials.
“Inflation should continue to decline,
with lower food prices from higher rice and wheat production and
supported by a tight monetary policy and a budget execution that
maintains medium-term consolidation objectives,” it said.
The IMF said there were risks to its
projections, including the uncertain pace of the global recovery, lower
oil prices and production, slow implementation of reforms and the
continuation of a bloody Islamist insurgency in the north.
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