Macroeconomic Report & Economic Updates
January 23, 2017
Nigeria Economic Update (Issue 2)
Recent ranking by the World Bank, portrayed Nigeria as having a poor business environment based on the ease of doing business in 2016. Although, Nigeria moved one position forward from previous (2015) ranking, to attain the 169th position out of the 190 global economies reviewed4. This poor rating is resultant of a myriad of factors, including: difficulties in starting a business, enforcing contracts, inaccessibility to credit, tax payment issues, as well as unreliable supply of energy, and labour market regulations. Going forward, improving the efficiency of tax administration by adopting the latest technology to facilitate the preparation, filling and payment of taxes will be beneficial for the business community.
Related
Nigeria Economic Update (Issue 9)
The naira depreciated by 8.2 percent from
N305/$ on February 5th, to N330/ $ on February 12th 20166. The apex body identified the
increased domestic demand for forex to pay for foreign medical treatments and
schools fees (15 percent of total demand) 7 as the main drivers. As
a result, the apex bank is considering to discontinue the provision of forex for
payment of medical bills and school fees abroad and to re-channel the forex
towards the manufacturing sector of the economy. With the continuous
depreciation of the naira, and the CBNs resistance from calls to devalue the
currency, the options for alternatives measures seem to be diminishing.
Nigeria Economic Update (Issue 22)
Power
sector analysis shows a decline in power generated by 15.07 percent from a peak
of 3,424 mw to 2,908 mw between May 8, 2016 and May 15, 20169. The
declining power supply is attributable to vandalism of pipelines and gas
shortages, which has a debilitating effect on power generation. As part of the
efforts by the Federal Government to improve power supply in the country, the
Bank of Industry (BoI) is currently funding intervention projects to provide
alternative source of energy (solar) in rural areas across the country10.
Since the major problem facing power generation in the country is gas
shortages, the government should make concerted efforts to combat vandalism.