Nigeria’s growth projection may be reviewed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) if the ongoing #EndSARS protest which has spread to many parts of the country persists.
This was revealed on Thursday by the Director, African Department, International Monetary Fund, Abebe Selassie, while responding to questions during the virtual IMF press conference on the regional economic outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa.
Selassie described Nigeria’s protest as one of the difficult ones that generated concerns for the IMF.
According to him, Lagos is a very important economic hub and contributes quite a bit of economic activity to overall Nigeria activities. If the protests therefore persist and are showing significant effects on economic data, IMF will internalize them in due course.
While admitting that the protest was a difficult one to comment on, Selassie said economic conditions in Nigeria for the last four years had been very difficult in the wake of the decline in oil prices in 2015 to 2016. He added that the growth has since then been quite anaemic and had put a lot of pressure on standards of living.
He stated that IMF had provided support for Nigeria earlier in the year to try to cushion the effect of COVID-19 pandemic and the economic crisis that unfolded on Nigeria.
He is of the opinion that the development agenda that Nigeria has should be tackled with gusto and vigor so that the millions of jobs that the country needs can be created.
