October 11, (THEWILL) – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has lowered Nigeria’s economic growth projection for 2022 from 3.4 percent to 3.2 percent.
The Washington-based institution disclosed this on Tuesday, in its World Economic Outlook (WEO) for October 2022 titled, “Countering the Cost-of-Living Crisis”.
The Fund had in its last economic outlook released in July 2022, estimated that Nigeria’s economy would grow by 3.4 percent in 2022 from the 2.7 percent earlier projected in April.
However, the downgrade is 0.2 percentage points lower than the 3.4 percent projected earlier in its July report.
The report also downgraded the economic growth projection for sub-Saharan Africa from 3.8 percent to 3.6 percent in October 2022, citing tighter financial and monetary conditions.
“In sub-Saharan Africa, the growth outlook is slightly weaker than predicted in July, with a decline from 4.7 percent in 2021 to 3.6 percent and 3.7 percent in 2022 and 2023, respectively — downward revisions of 0.2 percentage points and 0.3 percentage points, respectively.
“This weaker outlook reflects lower trading partner growth, tighter financial and monetary conditions, and a negative shift in the commodity terms of trade”, the report said.
Unlike sub-Saharan Africa, the report projected that growth in the Middle East and Central Asia would increase to 5.0 percent in 2022.
According to IMF, the development reflects “a favourable outlook for the region’s oil exporters and an unexpectedly mild impact of the war in Ukraine on the Caucasus and Central Asia.
“In 2023, growth in the region is set to moderate to 3.6 percent as oil prices decline and the headwinds from the global slowdown and the war in Ukraine take hold.”
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