Nigeria to Emerge from Recession in Q4, 2020, Finance Minister

Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, has said the second economic recession in fours will be short-lived.

The minister disclosed this at the ongoing 26th Nigerian Economic Summit organised by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group

Ahmed said Nigeria would emerge from the recession this fourth quarter or by the first quarter of next year.

Africa’s largest economy plunged into recession in the third quarter after two consecutive quarters of decline. Nigeria recorded -6.10 growth in the second quarter of 2020 and another -3.62 percent growth in the third quarter.

The minister said the COVID-19 induced economic recession followed the same pattern with other global nations struggling with economic recession.

“Let me remind us that before the impact of COVID-19, the Nigerian economy was experiencing sustained growth, which had been improving quarter by quarter until the second quarter of 2020, when the impact of the COVID-19 was felt,” she said.

She explained that nations like the United Kingdom and the United States are facing much deeper contraction than Nigeria.

“Nigeria is not alone in this, but I will say that Nigeria has outperformed all of these economies in terms of the record of a negative growth.”

According to her, Africa’s second-largest economy, South Africa, suffered a record decline of -50 percent and the economy is expected to post negative growth in the third-quarter GDP report scheduled to be released soon.

Ahmed said, “While the economy has entered into recession in the third quarter, the trend of the growth suggests that this will be a short-lived recession, and indeed by the fourth or, at worst, the first quarter of 2021, the country will exit recession.

“Our expectation of a quick exit, which will be historically fast, is anchored on the several complementary fiscal, real sector and monetary interventions that have been proactively introduced by the government to forestall a far worse decline of the economy and alleviate the negative consequences of the pandemic.”