Macroeconomic Report & Economic Updates

According to the Debt Management Office (DMO), the outstanding public debt declined by 5.65 percent from $84 billion to $79.3 billion between December 2019 and March 2020¹. The reduction was driven by a 9 percent decline in domestic debt from $56.4 billion to $51.6 billion during the same period². Meanwhile, the change to external debt was minimal as it tapered around $27.6 billion in both periods. While the decline in domestic debt is as a result of the redemption of Nigeria Treasury Bills (NTBs), the stagnation of external debt stems from the government’s need to limit its exposure to exchange rate volatility. However, the $3.4 billion in emergency support received from the IMF in April as well as the reliance on domestic debt to mitigate the impact of the pandemic will increase public debt in the near term. In this context, effective debt management is important not only with regards to the terms of borrowing but also in debt use and transparency.

The manufacturers Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) declined by 3 percent to 41.1 index points between May and June 2020, indicating an increased shrinking in the sector¹. The slowdown was noted across 9 of the 14 surveyed subsectors and was attributed to continued decline in production levels, supply deliveries and new orders within the manufacturing sector. Conversely, the non-manufacturers PMI rose from 25.3 to 35.7 index points albeit lower than the 50-point benchmark. This was driven by an increase in employment, inventories and overall business activity. This rise follows the gradual removal of the lockdown measures and is expected to persist as next month’s business outlook for the manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors is 2.7 and 2.4 percent higher respectively². Firms should be prepared to shift their supply chains and adjust to the new business environment. For instance, as remote working becomes the new normal, the increased demand for computing infrastructure is an opportunity firms can seize.

According to the CBN, crude oil price has risen to $42.94per barrel, a 33 percent rise compared to $32.25 per barrel in the previous month.[i] The rise comes just as many economies are reopening, recording a marginal increase in demand. However, world oil demand is still expected to drop by 9.1 million barrels per dollar.[ii]  OPEC and its member countries have agreed to drop oil production in order to control market supply and consequently price. With this agreement, the revenue gains from increasing oil price for Nigeria could be marginal as the country is expected to cut production by about 22 percent to 1.4 million barrels per day which may also hinder the realization of the revised 2020 budget considering that the crude oil production estimate is 1.7 million barrels per day. To ensure performance of the 2020 budget, concerted efforts must be in place to ensure optimum collection of non-oil revenues by blocking leakages and non-remittances through improved administrative and monitoring mechanisms.

Total trade declined by 17.94 percent to ₦8.304 billion in Q12020 compared to Q42019¹. The decline was driven by a drop in both total imports and export value which fell by 21.08 percent and 14.42 percent quarter on quarter, recording a deficit of ₦138.98 billion. A decline in total trade was recorded in energy and manufactured goods. While the value of agricultural goods exported grew by 85.36 percent quarter on quarter, and the value of agricultural imports by 12.02 percent concurrently. Trade in Q12020, although marginally higher than Q12019 total trade, reflects the lower economic activity experienced during the quarter. The volume of trade is expected to continue to decline as economies across the world turn inwards due the pandemic. However, the private sector can leverage on the pandemic to boost trade in services such as ICT services, as well as professional, scientific, and technical services which is more resistant to political and economic forces that threaten trade in goods. Given the large wage differentials in the service industry across countries, Nigeria stands to benefit from a service-based global integration.

A recently released CBN report indicates a weakened business outlook of -66.2 points for the month of May. The agriculture and service sectors are the worst hit, recording a decline in activity of -37.7 index point for May. According to the survey the pessimism is maintained in June as businesses expect an economic outlook of -4.2². The employment outlook is pessimistic across the construction, manufacturing, agriculture, and service sectors as employment is expected to decline by -18.5, -10.9, and -4.1 points respectively. The weakened outlook towards the macroeconomy results from limited economic activity with businesses that are import and/or export-oriented and those that are neither import nor export-oriented expressing pessimism. Considering that the factors that constrain business activity including power supply insufficiencies, access to finance and credit, high-interest rate, and insufficient demand are still present, the business outlook in the coming months is expected to continue to weaken considerably.