According to the bank’s latest ‘global economics prospects’ report, it stated that “In Nigeria, growth is projected to decelerate to 2.9 per cent in 2023 and remain at that pace in 2024 barely above population growth,”
It added: “A growth momentum in the non-oil sector is likely to be restrained by continued weakness in the oil sector. Existing production and security challenges and moderation in oil prices are expected to hinder a recovery in oil output.
“Policy uncertainty, sustained high inflation, and rising incidence of violence are anticipated to temper growth. Growth in agriculture is expected to soften because of the damage from last year’s floods”.
Recall the World Bank had in December 2022, cut down Nigeria’s 2022 growth forecast to 3.1% from a previous forecast of 3.8%.
The bank noted in its latest Nigeria Development Update (NDU), launched in Abuja, that Nigeria had to make hard choices or face a worse economic downturn in the coming months and years.
While making the prediction, the World Bank had revealed that the reason it made the down grade was die to the due to a weak performance in critical areas of the economy which caused slow economic growth in the third quarter.
While noting that this was the first time in more than 80 years that two global recessions have occurred within the same decade, the bank projected that the global economy will grow by 1.7 per cent in 2023 and 2.7 per cent in 2024 while for For Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the bank said growth in per capita income over 2023-24 is expected to average just 1.2 percent, a rate that could cause poverty rates to rise.