By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The economic growth projection for Nigeria in 2024 has been lowered by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by 0.2 per cent to 3.1 per cent from the 3.3 per cent forecast in April.
The global lender announced the downgrade of the country’s gross domestic growth (GDP) forecast by 0.2 per cent in its July 2024 World Economic Outlook released on Tuesday.
However, it left the projection for next year unchanged at 3.0 per cent, as it trimmed the 2024 forecast for sub-Saharan Africa, where Nigeria belongs, to 3.7 per cent from 3.8 per cent.
The IMF explained that, “The forecast for growth in sub-Saharan Africa is revised downward, mainly as a result of a 0.2 percentage point downward revision to the growth outlook in Nigeria amid weaker than expected activity in the first quarter of this year.”
But it raised the economic growth forecast for the region for 2025 to 4.1 per cent from 4.0 per cent, as it noted that, “Inflation is expected to remain higher in emerging market and developing economies than in advanced economies.”
On the global front, it stated that, “Growth is expected to remain stable.”
“At 3.2 per cent in 2024 and 3.3 per cent in 2025, the forecast for global economic growth is broadly unchanged from that in April,” the Bretton Woods institution disclosed.
