As the Federal Government consolidates the economy towards meeting its $1 trillion projection by 2030, an economics and financial analyst has charged the federal government to put mechanisms in place that will align current economic realities with the expected economic growth.
Presenting the keynote address at the 9th edition of Nigerian Association of Insurance and Pension Editors' (NAIPE) Conference with the theme, "Towards A $1trillion Economy, Roles of Insurance And Pension Sectors," the Managing Director/Chief Economist, Analysts Data Services & Resources Limited, Dr. Afolabi Olowookere, advised the Federal Government to tinker with the current policies and speed up infrastructure development to encourage more investments, if it must realise the $1 trillion economy projection.
According to Olowookere, the country's Gross Domestic Product grew from 2.98 per cent in the first quarter of the year to 3.19 per cent in the second quarter, noting that the forecasts in the short to medium term remained weak.
He said inflation and other socio-economic manifestations, such as interest rates could constitute obstacles to achieving the projection.
He stated further: "Interest rate is expected to remain relatively high in response to inflation and economic instability.
"Naira has depreciated by 71.15 per cent between January 2023 and August 2024, rising from N461/US$l to NI,598.1/US$, now around NI,650/US$. Naira will likely continue to face gradual depreciation pressures due to trade imbalances and inflation."
He, therefore, concluded that managing the economy under the current economic setting would, at best, grow the economy to around $450 billion by the projected 2030 date.
Reflecting on the current GDP position, the financial analyst identified the leading contributors to Nigerian outputs to include Agriculture, ICT, Trade and Manufacturing.
Olowookere noted that the financial and insurance sectors account for 6.579 per cent of Nigeria's GDP, but continue as the major driver of economic growth.
He said: "It has remained the fastest growing sector in recent time. The performance of Nigerian economy has been mixed in the last one year".
