Macroeconomic Report & Economic Updates
February 8, 2016
Nigeria Economic Update (Issue 7)
External
reserve dropped slightly by 0.6 per cent from $28.35 billion in January 22 to
$28.19 billion in January 295. Considering the continuous decline, government
has stepped up efforts towards financing the deficit in the proposed budget
through borrowing. At the forex market, the official exchange rate remained
unchanged at N197/$ while the naira depreciated at the parallel market by 2.36
percent from N297/$ to N304/$ between January 22 and 296. Despite
the huge spread between the official and parallel market exchange rates, the
monetary authorities maintained its fixed exchange rate regime at the official
forex market. It is expected that if the demand pressure for dollar persists,
the value of naira may decline in the near term.
Related
Nigeria Economic Update (Issue 2)
International rating body, Fitch, has projected higher economic growth for Nigeria in 2018. The body estimated that Nigerias economy will grow by 2.6 percent, slightly higher compared to projections from the International Monetary Fund (2.1 percent) and The World Bank (1 percent). A myriad of factors may have driven the projected increase: improved availability of forex for the non-oil sector, higher government capital expenditure capability driven by more oil revenue, and fiscal stimulus. However, the relatively strong economic growth projected by Fitch and IMF may be hampered