The Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, yesterday, projected that Nigeria’s Gross Domestic (GDP) growth will rise to 3% in 2019 as against 1.93% recorded in 2018.
Mr
Emefiele, in a keynote address delivered at the BusinessDay
Post-Election Economic Agenda conference in Lagos, also said the apex
bank will maintain its tight monetary policy stance and stable exchange
rate throughout the year. He stressed that the nation’s economic
recovery has become self sustaining with the GDP expected to pick up in
the first half of the current year.
According to him, The CBN
expects inflation rate to rise to 12 percent and moderate downward
thereafter owing to productivity gains in the agricultural and
manufacturing sectors.
He, however, noted that the CBN would adjust
the Monetary Policy Rate (MPC) in line with unfolding conditions and
outlooks. Just as in the previous year, he said the apex bank would
continue in its drive to ensure that the MPR rate is set to balance the
objectives of price stability with output stabilization.
On the
exchange rate policy, he said the CBN, in spite of expected pressures
from the volatility in the crude oil markets, would maintain its stable
exchange rate over the next year. “Gross stability is projected in the
foreign exchange market, given increased oil production and contained
import bill,” he noted.
The CBN governor expressed optimism that
the country’s Balance of Payments (BoP) would remain positive in the
short-term, Emefiele said that the current account balance could improve
further if oil prices continued to recover. He assured that this would
be “supported by improved non-oil performance as diversification efforts
begin to yield results to reduce undue imports.”
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