‘Population growth not commensurate with GDP’
There will be no much improvement in the economy where population growth is higher than the growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) and one-time Chairman of the Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG), Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, has observed.
Ohuabunwa said, “The critical thing is that we have a volatile economy; economy that is growing at a very slow rate, under two per cent, while population is growing at about three per cent.”
The PSN president spoke on the sidelines of the press briefing for the 92nd annual conference of pharmacists holding in Kaduna from November 4 to 9, 2019.
He said PSN chose the theme: “Navigating the Wind of Change in Professional Practice in a Volatile Economy”, to reflect how the current economic downturn had impacted negatively on pharmacists and other players in the economy.
With the declining purchasing power of consumers, the profit margin of distributors and manufacturers has also dwindled significantly, he noted.
Although effort was being made to reflate the economy, he restated that Nigerians might not witness improvement in living standard because of the GDP growth which was not commensurate with population growth.
He said, “It is simple as that; you cannot be growing more in number than you are producing. The quantity that goes into individuals would be smaller. It doesn’t matter the size.
“We are also talking about other factors because beyond GDP you have inflation that is double digit. You have food inflation. You have situation where access to funding is still a challenge.
“We have a situation where local production is still facing a lot of problems. We have a situation where products are being brought into the country sometimes through all kinds of places. We have a situation where unfair competition is going on.”
Ohuabunwa further said, “So we are saying, and I am saying that we have two choices - one, government is trying to change the economy; they are doing all kinds of things, they set up an economic advisory committee, they are pushing on all fronts and it will take time to get the economy to where we want it. And we are saying, should we just wait till that happens? What will happen in between? How will patients obtain medicine? How will companies operate? How will the health run in this era of diminished and declining disposable income?”