Macroeconomic Report & Economic Updates
August 4, 2017
Nigeria Economic Update (Issue 29)
Global oil price edged upwards in the review week. International crude benchmark, Brent, rose week-on-week by 3.1 percent to $50 per barrel as at July 21, 20173 a level it had not attained since June. The remarkable gains followed demand-side progress earlier statistics from China showed increase in crude imports, indicating prospects of higher demand. This was also complimented by the huge drop in US domestic crude production (Crude reserves fell by 4.7 million barrels). If the trend is sustained, Nigeria could record further rise in its Gross Federally Collected Revenue. Nevertheless, there remains a need for Nigeria to overcome the challenge of harnessing its oil and gas resources by making strategic policy choices andensuring coordination in policy implementation to minimize macroeconomic distortions.
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Nigeria Economic Update (Issue 13)
Recent Data on Nigerias Real GDP growth rate
(Year-on-Year) declined by 0.73 percentage points, from 2.84 per cent in 2015Q3
to 2.11 percent in 2015Q4. The slowdown in economic growth was
largely driven by the decline in the performance of the oil sector which was
occasioned by the slump in crude oil prices and the slight drop in the volume
of crude oil produced. Specifically, compared to the 1.05 percent growth
recorded in 2015Q3, the oil sector witnessed a negative growth of 8.28 percent in 2015Q4.
Nigeria Economic Update (Issue 37)
Recent
data by the CBN shows a decline in manufacturing capacity utilization by 2.0
percentage points to 50.7 percent in 2016Q2. Foreign exchange
challenges in addition to cash squeeze in the review quarter, led to the
decline in capacity utilization. This has hindered activities in the sector
while impacting negatively on business confidence. Nonetheless, the CBN
recently directed authorized FX dealers to dedicate 60 percent of FX purchases
to manufacturers. This policy measure is therefore expected to meet
the sectors critical FX need for the purchase of imported raw material and
other machineries, while boosting the potential for economic growth in the long
term.
Nigeria Economic Update (Issue 9)
Crude oil prices fluctuated during the
review week. OPEC weekly basket price decreased marginally from $53.63 on
February 24, 2017 to $53.34 on March 3, 2017. Similarly, Brent
crude declined (week-on-week) by 0.84 percent to $55.15, while
Bonny light decreased by 2.4 percent to $54.4 per barrel. During
the week, reports of Russias incomplete compliance to agreed production cut and
rising United States crude production/inventories, led to the
slight pressure exerted on oil prices. The uncertainties and volatility of
global crude oil price stresses the need for the government to channel efforts
at developing other key sectors of the economy, particularly the manufacturing
sector.