Publications

June 26, 2017
Institutions And Sustainable Industrial-led Development In Sub-Saharan Africa
In 2015, economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa
(SSA) slowed to 3.4 percent from 4.6 percent the previous year. The economic
slowdown in the region was the result of an interplay of several external and
domestic factors such as lower commodity prices, slowdown in the economies of
major trading partners, tightening borrowing conditions, political instability
and conflict, electricity shortages and other infrastructure deficiencies (World Bank, 2016). This sluggish
growth trends is in contrast to the impressive growth recorded in the region,
over the past decade.
Related
Nigeria Economic Update (Issue 36)
Recently
released GDP figures reveals that the three major sectors recorded positive and
negative growth rates individually in 2017Q2. Firstly, Agricultural
sector grew Year on Year by 3.01 percent, down from 3.39 percent in 2017Q1- driven by
weaker output in crop production and Fishing sub-sectors. This is not
unconnected with the planting season and the shortage of grainsfor livestock/fish respectively.
Nigeria Economic Update (Issue 51)
Recently released data by the National
Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows that there was significant increase in Nigerias
total merchandise trade for 2016Q3. Basically, the total merchandise trade
increased (quarter-on-quarter) by 16.29 percent to N4, 722 billion in 2016Q3;owing to 29.1 percent increase in exports and 6.2 percent rise in imports. Oil
exports increased by 31 percent to N1, 943 billion, while non-oil exports
increased by 20.5 percent to N440 billion. However, on the aggregate, Nigeria
recorded yet another trade deficit of N104 billion, indicating continuous
higher imports relative to exports. Overall, though there is improvement in the
performance of non-oil sector, however, this is insufficient to effectively
complement the loss in oil trade sustained since the beginning of oil price
crash. This suggests that diversification into non-oil sector may not be able
to rescue the economy in the short term. However, while the diversification
efforts should be sustained, eliminating hurdles in oil production may be
instrumental to higher exports, especially as oil price increase is gaining
momentum.