Economy will not recover before 2017 – Expert

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Financial Derivatives, Mr Bismarck Rewane, has said that the Nigerian economy will not witness real recovery before the first quarter of 2017.

Bismark was reacting to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) consumer price index which gave Nigeria’s inflation rate as 16.5 percent in June.

The renowned economist whose comment was monitored on the Channels Television news, said: “The economy will recover, not this year, but in the first quarter of 2017.”

He said that the country was in a recession because it had two quarters of negative growth, adding that there would be a third quarter of negative growth and a full year of negative growth. Bismarck said: “We are now the 8th country with the highest inflation rate in Africa. Inflation is set to decline because month-on-month inflation actually slowed, even though year-on-year went up to 16.5. It is going to decline because of base year effects, consumer resistance to high prices and increased output.”

He, however, pointed out that efforts to recover the economy were the responsibility of the fiscal authorities such as the ministries of finance, works and investment who should put together a stimulus package.