Recession-hit Nigeria launches optimistic economic recovery plan
Nigeria is hoping to hit 7% growth by 2020, but economists believe that is too high, given that last year its economy shrank by 1.5%
Lagos — Nigeria’s government launched a master plan this week to lift it out of recession, hoping to hit 7% growth by 2020, but economists believe the programme sets the bar too high. The detailed plan was published on Monday and outlines how the West African oil giant thinks it can turn around its worst economic crisis in 25 years. "One of the key goals of the plan was probably to get the World Bank and African Development Bank on board with lending Nigeria some more money, since both of them have made a detailed plan a pre-condition of further borrowing," said John Ashbourne, an Africa economist at the Capital Economics. Nigeria’s ministry of budget and national planning gave a sober assessment of the current situation in the 140-page document, titled Economic Recovery and Growth Plan 2017-2020. Global crude prices have fallen, slashing revenue coming into Nigeria’s oil-dependent economy, weakening the naira and causing inflation to soar to levels approaching 20%. At the same time...
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