After
almost a year of negative growth that resulted in the collapse of
businesses, the Nigerian economy is looking up, signalling an end of the
recession, the World Economics, said yesterday.
However, the body cautioned that “conditions remain difficult for businesses,”
The
Special Adviser on Media Matters to the Minister of Budget and
National Planning, James Akpandem, said statistical analyses and
economic experts’ assessments clearly indicated that the economy was
coming out of recession.
“The latest report from the National
Bureau of Statistics which details significant aspects of economic
activities in the first quarter of this year, clearly showed that
inflationary trends are coming down, while the major fundamentals are
increasingly showing positive outlook.
“That showed that the economy is coming out of recession,” Akpandem said.
Nigeria’s
economy receded at the end of Q2 in 2016 after falling oil prices ate
deep into the country’s earnings and caused the naira to weaken thereby
causing inflation to spiral upward. Spates of attacks on oil
installations in the Niger Delta by militants, who were protesting for
better deals from the government, almost crippled oil production.
But
the government’s recent engagements in the oil-rich region, spearheaded
by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, has seen attacks on oil facilities
petered out, at least, for now.
Edited from The Nation