IMF projects -3.4% growth for Nigeria, affirming looming recession

By : Femi Adekoya

Date: 14 April 2020 1:56pm WAT

People walk past a rickety truck overloaded with tomatoes in a sparsely attended Mile 12 Market in Lagos, on April 6, 2020. - The lockdown of Lagos, Nigeria's economic hub has set food vendors at loggerheads with consumers . While food vendors are complaining of low patronage as securities operatives intensify enforcement of the sit-at-home order to contain the spread of COVID-19 coronavirus, consumers are blaming the arbitrary hike in prices of foodstuffs across the state to trader's insensitivity to the suffering of the people. Traders attribute the price hike of food items on restriction of vehicle movement by security operatives enforcing the lockdown and difficulties in transportationing goods from rural areas to the metropolis. (Photo by PIUS UTOMI EKPEI / AFP)

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected negative growth for Nigeria, others, stating that COVID-19 pandemic is inflicting high and rising human costs worldwide, and the necessary protection measures are severely impacting economic activity.

The IMF projected a negative growth of -3.4% for Nigeria, indicating a recession.

According to the IMF, as a result of the pandemic, the global economy is projected to contract sharply by –3 percent in 2020, much worse than during the 2008–09 financial crisis.

In a baseline scenario–which assumes that the pandemic fades in the second half of 2020 and containment efforts can be gradually unwound—the global economy is projected to grow by 5.8 per cent in 2021 as economic activity normalizes, helped by policy support.

The risks for even more severe outcomes, however, are substantial. Effective policies are essential to forestall the possibility of worse outcomes, and the necessary measures to reduce contagion and protect lives are an important investment in long-term human and economic health.

Details later.