Nigeria’s Economy To Grow By 4.1% Amid Crises -AfDB

The African Development Bank (AfDB) says Nigeria and other economies of Africa is projected to grow by 4.1 per cent in 2023 and 4.3per cent in 2024.
The AfDB President, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, said this while inaugurating the African Economic Outlook (AEO) 2023 at the on-going 2023 AfDB Annual Meetings in Sharm El Sheikh.
According to him, the economies on the continent have shown remarkable resilience in spite of the multiple and dynamic shocks it faced.
“These multiple and dynamic shocks have weighed on Africa’s growth momentum, with growth in real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) estimated at 3.8per cent in 2022.
“This is down from 4.8per cent in 2021. The GDP growth in 2022 is above the global average of 3.4per cent.
“Africa has also shown remarkable resilience, evident in the projected consolidation of economic growth in the medium term.
“The outlook remains positive and stable, with a projected rebound to four per cent in 2023 and further consolidation to 4.3percent in 2024”, he said.
The AfDB boss attributed the slowed growth on the continent to the tightening global financial conditions, and supply chain disruptions exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which subdued global growth.
He said growth was also impaired by the residual effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the growing impact of climate change and extreme weather event.
Adesina said Africa had a great potential to pursue green growth and climate objectives to accelerate economic growth, given its enormous advantages.
He said the continent had some of the world’s fastest-growing economies and its real GDP growth was projected to surpass the global average in 2023 to 2024, even as headwinds persist.
He further said the continent also had an important human capital base, with its population projected to increase to 2.4billion by 2050.
“As most of the current population is young, compared with other regions’ aging population, Africa is the current and future frontier market in green growth opportunities.
“Africa hosts 25per cent of the world’s natural biodiversity and 30per cent of the world’s mineral resources, most of which will be essential for a green transition.
“Africa has a large renewable energy potential, including wind, solar, hydropower and geothermal and the world’s highest solar energy potential.
“Countries in the continent also have the greatest potential for investments in green infrastructure and technology”, Adesina explained.
The AfDB president said this was due to their low levels of development, low legacy high-emissions infrastructure, and low frequency of infrastructure and project finance default rates, estimated at 5.5per cent.
Also, the AfDB Vice President for Economic Governance and Knowledge, Prof Kelvin Urama, said the deceleration was broad-based, with 31 of the 54 African countries posting weaker growth rates in 2022 relative to 2021.
Urama said the continent, however, performed better than most world regions in 2022.
He said the continent’s resilience projected to put five of the six pre-pandemic top performing economies, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Tanzania, back in the league of the world’s 10 fastest-growing economies in 2023–24.
“Growth is projected to rebound to four per cent in 2023, and consolidate at 4.3per cent in 2024, underpinning Africa’s continued resilience to shocks.
“In spite this, climate change, elevated global inflation, and persistent fragilities in supply chains will remain on the watch-list as potential factors for possible slowdowns of growth in the continent,’’ he said.
Urama said while most African currencies weakened, others appreciated or remained stable.
According to him, countries with appreciating currencies include Angola (27.1per cent), Seychelles (15.6per cent), and Zambia (15.3per cent).
Urama said depreciation rates could ease in 2023 and 2024, but continued strengthening of the U.S. dollar would keep African currencies under pressure.
The bank’s annual meeting which began on May 22 will end today.
The theme of the 2023 Annual Meeting is “Mobilizing Private Sector Financing for Climate and Green Growth in Africa.
The meeting provides a framework for Bank Group Governors to share their experiences with galvanizing private financing domestically and internationally and harnessing natural capital to bridge the climate financing gap and promote the transition to green growth in Africa.