Unless Nigeria achieves a very strong third quarter 2020 economic performance, the country may slide into recession, the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, said yesterday in Abuja.
She made this known at the opening of a five-day interactive session on the 2021-2023 Medium Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP).
The interactive session, according to the online platform, The Cable, was organised by the house of representatives committee on finance, chaired by James Faleke, a lawmaker representing Ikeja federal constituency. Ahmed, who was represented by Clement Agba, the minister of state for finance, said the COVID-19 pandemic had put further pressure on Nigeria’s foreign exchange.
“Nigeria is exposed to spikes in risk aversion in the global capital market, which will put further pressure on the foreign exchange market as foreign portfolio investors exit the Nigerian market,” the minister said.
“Nigeria’s Q2 GDP growth is in all likelihood negative and unless we achieve a very strong Q3 2020 economic performance, the Nigerian economy is likely to lapse into a second recession in four years with significant adverse consequences.
“In response to the developments affecting the supply of foreign exchange to the economy, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) adjusted the official exchange rate to N360, and more recently to N379.”
Photo Source: Nairametrics
