The upward review in International Monetary Fund (IMF’s) 2023 growth projection for Nigeria has shown that the country has continued to thrive under the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
This, according to the Buhari Media Organization (BMO), is against the backdrop of a downward review of the global growth average from 3.4 per cent to 2.9 per cent.
In a statement signed by its Chairman Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke, BMO said at 3.2 per cent, the IMF is projecting that Nigeria would not only do above the global average but better than some advanced economies.
“When IMF, a few months ago, initially projected that Nigeria’s economy would grow by 3%, it hinged it on the economic thrust of the Buhari administration which we all know is centered around a diversified economy with the non-oil sector doing so well.
“But now that the country’s daily crude oil production has improved, the global body is projecting a 0.2 per cent increase in its earlier forecast which it said is as a result of measures introduced to address insecurity issues in the oil sector.
“We invite Nigerians to note that this is higher than what is projected for more advanced economies like the United States at 1.4 per cent, Germany 0.1 per cent and France 0.7 per cent.
“In Sub-Saharan Africa, the country closest to Nigeria on IMF’s world economic outlook chart is South Africa with a growth projection of 1.2 per cent,” the group added.
BMO said that the Buhari administration had since inception taken bold steps to build a more resilient economy, and the results are gradually being acknowledged at the global stage.
“It first started with the way Nigeria shocked the rest of the world in the swift manner it exited the 2020 COVID-19 induced global recession.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the Buhari administration introduced the Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP) as a response to the challenges posed by the pandemic, as well as to drive economic recovery in the aftermath of its Economic Growth and Recovery Plan (EGRP).
“Aside from supporting small businesses in the midst of the global lockdown, the administration paid serious attention to Agriculture and other non-oil sectors to the extent that today Nigeria’s GDP has continued to be driven by the non-oil sector.
“A better perspective to this could be taken from what Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed said recently about Nigeria not having to depend largely on oil revenue in 2023 compared to 2016, a year after President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office.
“This, we make bold to say, is because 78 per cent of Federal Government’s revenue will be earned from non-oil resources, with only 22 per cent contributed by the oil sector. “This is the Buhari legacy and it should not be surprising that IMF’s growth forecast for Nigeria is higher than most”.
The group also reaffirmed its stance that President Buhari will leave the country better than he met it in 2015.
