Macroeconomic Report & Economic Updates

February 12, 2018
Nigeria Economic Update (Issue 4)
Recently released labour force report by the NBS shows a quarter-over-quarter increase in Nigerias working age and labour force population. Working population rose from 110.29 million in 2017Q2, to 111.13 million persons in 2017Q32. The working age population in 2017Q3 constituted 85.08 million persons in the labour force (an increase from 83.94 million), of which 40 percent were either unemployed or underemployed. Thus, total employed persons in the quarter reached 69.1 million.
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Nigeria Economic Update (Issue 12)
The naira/dollar exchange rate remained largely stable at the parallel
market at ?320/$ during the period7, albeit slight
fluctuations on February 29, 2016 (?325/$) and March 2, 2016 (?328/$). The
decline in the hoarding of foreign currency as well as the substantial
reduction in the speculative demand for dollars were the two key factors
responsible for the ease of fluctuations in the forex market8. With the slight
increase in the price of crude oil, Nigerias foreign reserve slightly grew by $56 million, from 27.81 billion to $27.84 billion9.
With the continued increase in the price of crude oil, a modest build-up of
foreign reserve to guard against unfavourable commodity price movements is
expected in the near term.