Nigeria’s GDP To Hit $595bn By 2020

Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is projected to hit $595 billion in the next three years (2020), according to the latest Africa Investment Index 2016 released by Quantum Global Lab.
With a GDP of $415 billion currently, Nigeria is the biggest economy in Africa, and the GDP is projected to grow to about $595 billion by 2020 based on the latest report Africa Investment Index.
Nigeria is the 19th most attractive economy for investments flowing into the African continent,  according to the The Cable, an online news platform, citing the latest Africa Investment Index 2016 by Quantum Global Lab.
The country attracted a net foreign direct investment of $3.1 billion in 2015, Quantum Global Lab stated.
Speaking at an investment summit, Head of Quantum Global Research Lab, Mthuli Ncube,  said Nigeria still has prospects despite the current economic challenges.
“Despite the current economic challenges, we are quite confident on the medium to long term market prospects.”
“Nigeria has earmarked a significant amount of capital to develop critical infrastructure in the country and there are various opportunities for public-private collaboration providing investors’ return on their investments. We anticipate that investment in infrastructure will underpin the growth of the economy and meet the needs of a large Nigerian growth population,” he said.
Ncube advised the government on the steps to take to grow the economy.
“The short to medium-term focus of the Nigerian government is to reduce imports and address primary sector blockages, such as roads, bridges, power, railway, aviation, water, housing, agriculture.
The window, however, has effectively introduced yet another exchange rate to the five already in operation. These include a retail rate set by licenced exchange bureaus, as well as official and black market rates.
At the forex window, market regulator FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange quoted the naira at N364.56 to the dollar yesterday, compared with the N367 to the dollar in the black market.
The local currency traded at about N520 to the dollar in the black market in February and at the N400 in the forex window when it opened in April, with the two rates then starting to converge.
CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, told The Tide source  that the I & E window was opened up for more and more people who are interested.
“That was why we introduced the I & E window. We said if you wanted forex, you can go to that market and buy it once it fits the pricing structure of the goods or whatever you want to do.
“And that has helped to some extent in complementing the flow of forex into the market and has resulted in the appreciation that we have seen. It is the market that determines the direction of the exchange rate,” he said.
According to him, the CBN feels gratified to have seen a movement from as high as N500/$1 and converging heavily southward to its present value of about N360 to the dollar.
“All we need to do is to keep monitoring the market and ensuring that if there are certain areas we need to address, we address them. By doing that, we would see more flows into the economy, which would help grow the economy,” he said.
Meanwhile, the CBN has continued its foray into the foreign exchange market by injecting a total of $142.5 million into the interbank.
A breakdown of the intervention indicated that the bank offered the sum of $100million to dealers in the wholesale segment, while it allocated the sum of $23 million to the small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) segment.
Those requiring foreign exchange for invisibles such as tuition fees, medical payments and Basic Travel Allowance (BTA) received $19.5 million.
The bank last week intervened in the retail segment of the market with the sum of $254.3million.
Confirming the latest round of forex intervention, the spokesperson of the apex bank, Isaac Okorafor, said the CBN will continue to carry out its regular mediation in the market so as to keep the market liquid and guarantee the international value of the naira in line with its mandate.
While reiterating the bank’s resolve to intervene in the market based on bids received from dealers on behalf of their respective customers, Okorafor said the CBN would not relent in ensuring transparency and efficiency in the sale of forex.
According to him, this commitment prompted the bank to mandate dealers to make public their forex utilisation.
He therefore urged all stakeholders to continually play their roles to guarantee transparency in the market.
Meanwhile, the naira maintained its stand at the Bureau de Change (BDC) segment of the forex market, exchanging at an average of N364/$1 in Lagos, Abuja and Kano, respectively.
re, education and health,” he said.
“Despite the current market volatility, Nigeria presents tremendous investment opportunities in these areas, which would not only support the local economy but
also deliver significant yields to foreign investors,” he said.