Presidency: Economy on course for recovery, growth

The Presidency has assured Nigerians that the economy of the country is on course for recovery and growth.

The Digital Engagement Office of the Presidency gave the assurance in its 23rd newsletter published on the official website of the Presidency, @AsoRock.

In the newsletter, the Presidency thus gave 11 proofs that the economy was getting out of recession:

“After two consecutive quarters of negative growth, the non-oil economy showed, in Q3 2016, a modest return to positive territory, at 0.03%. This was partly due to the continued good performance of agriculture and the solid minerals, two sectors prioritised by the federal government.

“Agriculture grew by 4.54% in the quarter under consideration of which growth in crop production at nearly 5% was at its highest since the first quarter of 2014.

Growth in the solid mineral sector was said to have averaged about 7%.

“The Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) of the Central Bank of Nigeria which it said substantially raised local rice production in 2016. This yields improved from two tonnes per hectare to as much as seven tonnes per hectare, in some states.

“The Fertiliser Intervention Project which involves a partnership with the government of Morocco, for the supply of phosphate, is on course to significantly raise local production, and bring the retail price of fertiliser down by about 30 percent.

“The newly established Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN). Government said the bank is finally taking off, with initial funding of $1.3 billion provided by the World Bank, German Development Bank, the African Development Bank and Agence Française de Development) to provide medium and long-term loans to MSMEs.

“A new Social Housing Programme is kicking off in 2017. The ‘Family Homes Fund’ will take off with a N100 billion provision in the 2017 Budget. The rest of the funding will come from the private sector.

“More than N800bn has been released for capital expenditure in the 2016 budget, since implementation started in June 2016. This is the largest ever capital spending within a single budget year in the history of Nigeria. These monies have enabled the resumption of work on several stalled projects - road, rail and power projects - across the country.

“The National Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (NERGP), the federal government’s medium-term economic plan, is due for launch in February 2017, and will chart a course for the Nigerian economy over the next four years (2017 - 2020).