Double Digit Economic Growth Possible for Nigeria – Afrinvest

Afrinvest (West Africa) Limited, an independent investment banking firm with a focus on West Africa, has said a double-digit economic growth for Nigeria is possible with the right critical policy reforms.

The firm, in its 2018 Banking Sector Report launched in Abuja yesterday, said Nigeria has an opportunity to implement new reforms especially by next year when a fresh tenure of either the existing government or a new government comes on board.

Presenting the report titled “an economic agenda for a new government” Mr. Ike Chioke, Group Managing Director, Afrinvest said: “We posit that annual double-digit growth which is required for sustained employment creation and poverty eradication is not impossible if critical reforms are passed.

“We reiterate the need for wide-scale infrastructure deployment but we also affirmed that substantial and sustained improvements to the quality of human capital – through investments in education and health – is required to effectively utilize physical capital and achieve strong economic performance.”

He also urged the Federal Government to adopt a pragmatic approach to shore up its independent revenue, even as the report predicted a revenue underperformance of 40 percent.

It said that as a result of political distractions caused by-election campaigns, the fiscal deficit may widen to up to 3.5 percent of nominal Gross Domestic Product.