Nigeria in worst possible time, says finance minister…NBS confirms economic recession

The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, on Wednesday admitted that Nigeria was in its worst possible time with the Gross Domestic Product figures for the 2016 second quarter released by the National Bureau of Statistics showing the nation’s economy now in recession.

The nation’s external reserves fell by 2.86 per cent to $25.45bn on August 29, 2016, the latest report from the Central Bank of Nigeria showed on Wednesday. The foreign exchange reserves stood at $26.2bn at the end of July.

The continued scarcity of foreign exchange also pushed the naira to an all-time-low of 420 against the United States dollar at the parallel market.

The development came hours after the economy entered recession, according to the data released by the NBS.

Adeosun said the nation had a long way to go and the government was not deceiving itself that all was rosy.

She spoke with State House correspondents at the end of a meeting of the Federal Executive Council held inside the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

“It’s the worst possible time for us. Are we confused? Absolutely not,” the minister said.

She identified some of the ways the country could get out of recession to include diversification of the economy and investing in capital projects.

The minister said, “I think that we have a long way to go. We’re not confused and we’re not deceiving ourselves that everything is rosy. It’s not.

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Source: PUNCH