CBN, LCCI fault Gov. Yari over recession alarm

The prediction of Zamfara governor Abdulaziz Yari that Nigeria will slide into a recession again in 2020 has been faulted by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) and the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI).

Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State

The bodies disagreed with the governor’s postulation that Nigeria was not moving.

Yari, had told the newly-elected governors to prepare for another cycle of possible economic recession by mid-2020.

The recession, according to Yari, may not end until the third quarter of 2021.The Organised Private Sector group, in a reaction on Tuesday, questioned the basis on which Governor Yari made his prediction about another cycle of recession from 2020 to mid-2021.

In its reaction, the apex bank said that Nigeria is currently experiencing steady but marginal growth just as it is already coming out of high inflation rate.

At the unveiling of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) regional economic outlook for sub-Saharan Africa in Abuja yesterday, CBN deputy governor for Economic Policy Directorate, Joseph Nnana, said: “Right now, we are on the path of achieving our price stability goal of single-digit inflation.

“Are we going to witness increased inflation or are we sliding back into recession? My answer is no. We are making smooth progress towards growth and by the end of 2019, all things being equal, we are going to likely have between 2.8 and three per cent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate.”

Nnana, however, said that the GDP growth was not adequate, noting that Nigeria currently has a three per cent GDP real growth rate, with a population growth rate at 3.2 per cent. According to him, “per capita growth rate is still negative but definitely, we are not going through the era of 2016 when we had a recession.

Also MAN president, Mansur Ahmed, reported that “although the economy is not growing as fast as expected, it is growing nonetheless and all the projections from the world bank and other international bodies say that it will keep growing.

`The Director-General, LCCI, Mr Muda Yusuf, said “he could not agree with Yari because he was not speaking in the capacity of an economist and did not put parameters forward to back his projections.”