…as MPC retains interest rates at 14%
The National Bureau of Statistics Tuesday said that Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Products declined by –0.52 per cent year-on-year, in the first quarter of 2017, having contracted 0.67 per cent in the same quarter of 2016.
Nigeria, which is Africa’s largest economy, shrank by 1.5 per cent in 2016 for its first annual contraction in 25 years, caused by lower oil revenues and a shortage of hard currency.
The NBS in its current report said average oil production in the OPEC member state stood at 1.83 million barrels per day in the first quarter.
However, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele said Nigeria would be out of its present economic recession by the 3rd Quarter of 2017.
The governor said that positive indicators abound that Nigeria is on the verge of exiting the recession by the 3rd Quarter.
The governor stated this while briefing newsmen after the conclusion of that apex bank’s monetary policy meeting in Abuja.
The CBN meeting came hours after the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, released the 1st Quarter Gross Domestic Products, GDP, report with figures of encouraging economic recovery.
Consequently, Emefiele said at the end of their Monetary Meeting, that the positive indicators such as inflation moving upwards and GDP moving up from negative aggregate, are indications that by the third quarter of the year, the country will be out of recession.
The governor, however, noted that the committee voted to keep the MPR at 14 per cent, CRR at 22.5 per cent and the liquidity ratio at 30 per cent.
