Nigeria Economic Update (Issue 6)

Global economic growth remained fairly stable in 2016Q3 with baseline projections for global growth at 3.1 percent and 2.4 percent by International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank respectively. Growth in developed countries was moderate but unevenly distributed: while the U.S and the UK showed improvements, growth in other economies remained tepid. Among emerging countries, India witnessed higher growth while growth in China remained constant but the Chinese Yuan continued to appreciate. Given that India is Nigerias major crude oil importer, improving economic conditions in India may translate into rising demand for Nigerias crude oil. However, the continuous appreciation of the Yuan poses significant inflationary threat in Nigeria given the high level of imports from China. Subdued global demand, weak trade, uncertainties in commodity prices and consequences of the Brexit were the key constraining factors to growth over the period. In addition, growth in Sub-Saharan African countries remained generally slow on the account of low commodity price, political turmoil, and inconsistent government policies.

This report provides an evidence-based analysis of the state of the Nigerian economy in a bid to inform economic policies in Nigeria. The report presents some analyses of significant economic events in Nigeria within the period, and provides an outlook on what policymakers, businesses, and individuals should expect in subsequent quarters of 2016. It also provides valuable insights into potential drivers of the economic trends and outlines expectations for subsequent quarters of the year. The area of focus are Global Economic Performance, Domestic Economic Performance, External Sector Performance, and Sectoral Performance. 

A recent report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) indicates that Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) at the subnational level decreased slightly between 2014 and 2015. Specifically, the report shows that on the average, the IGR of all 36 states declined by 3.6 per cent from N707.9 billion in 2014 to N683.6 billion in 20157. A further disaggregation reveals that while IGR in 11 states improved in 2015 compared to 2014, IGR in 24 states were below their 2014 levels. As expected, Lagos state generated the most IGR during the period. Given that domestic resource mobilization is the most viable alternative to complement the shortfalls (driven by lower oil prices) in budgetary allocations to states from the federal government, state governments need to do more to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of revenue collection.