Written by Uzoanya Ugonma
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning Zainab Ahmed has attributed Nigeria’s recent recession to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic which led to a nationwide lockdown for much of the second quarter of 2020.
The minister however expressed optimism that the country’s economy would bounce back stronger by the fourth quarter of this year or by the first quarter of 2021.
Ahmed’s views were captured in her speech at the ongoing 26th Nigerian Economic Summit event organized by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group and the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning.
According to the minister, “Let me remind us that before the impact of COVID-19, the Nigerian economy was experiencing sustained growth, which had been improving quarter by quarter until the second quarter of 2020, when the impact of the COVID-19 was felt.”
Ahmed further stated that other countries such as the United States of America (USA) and the United Kingdom (UK) also recorded a much deeper recession in the year 2020.
She noted that, “Nigeria is not alone in this, but I will say that Nigeria has outperformed all of these economies in terms of the record of a negative growth.”
Nigeria has witnessed sustained inflationary pressures, unprecedented levels of unemployment, rising poverty rates and other worrisome economic indicators in the last five years.
Many analysts have expressed worry over the direction of the nation’s economy under Ahmed’s leadership with geometrically rising debt profile presenting a huge burden on the country’s revenue profile.
