The Federal Government has said that the Nigerian economy was on steady recovery path throughout 2021 despite unprecedented challenges faced by many countries around the world.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, stated this at a media briefing in Lagos on Thursday.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the briefing was to showcase the achievements of the Muhammadu Buhari Administration in 2021.
Mohammed said: “As you are aware, gentlemen, many countries around the world face unprecedented challenges, starting from 2020, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and Nigeria is no exception.
“The Nigerian economy was hit by the pandemic in mid- 2020, and the economic disruptions led to a recession.
“The poor performance of the economy during the COVID-19 era affected output growth, trade, household welfare and livelihood.
“However, this led to a quick response by the Federal Government with the rolling out of effective fiscal and monetary policies as well as health-related policies intended to curb the spread of the pandemic and mitigate the negative impact of the pandemic on the economy.”
The Minister said the policies rolled out by the government had yielded considerable results, including growth in the nation’s Gross Domestic Product.
Mohammed said: “The country’s domestic growth in the first three quarters of 2021 was positive, recording real GDP of 0.51 percent in Q1, 5.01 percent in Q2 and 4.03 percent in Q3 2021.
“This was an improvement from a declining performance in the first three quarters of 2020 (which led to economic recession) put at 1.87 percent in Q1, -6.10 per cent in Q2 and -3.62 per cent in Q3 2020.
“Nevertheless, the fourth quarter 2020 recorded a slight improvement of 0.11 percent, ushering in positive growth rates in the three quarters of 2021.”
Mohammed said the steady improvement in growth over the last three quarters could be attributed to government policies and strategies such as the Economic Sustainability Plan and the N500 billion COVID-19 Crisis Intervention Fund among others.
In Foreign Trade, Mohammed said Nigeria witnessed dwindling performance in 2020, arising from trade restrictions on account of COVID-19 pandemic.
The Minister, however, said that the country’s total exports grew by 40.62 per cent, which was N13.12 trillion in the first three quarters of 2021.
Mohammed added: “Over the same period, crude oil export improved considerably at N10.03 trillion, compared to N6.92 trillion, showing a growth rate of 44.93 per cent.
“Non-oil exports grew by 21.17 per cent – from N1.19 trillion to N1.44 trillion over the same period.
“Inflation rate has continued to decline on a year-on-year basis since April 2021 when 18.12 per cent was recorded.
“Looking at the trend, a declining rate was recorded from 17.93 per cent in May to 17.01 per cent in August,15.99 per cent in October and 15.40 per cent November 2021.
“It is projected that proper implementation of the proposed 2022 project of N17.13trillion and Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper 2022-2024 are likely to improve the performance of the economy.”
The Minister noted that judicious implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act would improve oil production and sales stability.
Mohammed gave an assurance that relatively high oil prices would enhance revenue performance and budget implementation, while strengthening security would improve output growth of the economy.