SAN FRANCISCO, March 13, (THEWILL) – PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has predicted that Nigeria’s real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will grow at 2.0 per cent year-on-year in 2018, propelled by oil production increase and government spending.
The multinational professional services firm made the prediction in its latest economic report saying significant higher oil sector growth in the first quarter of 2018 due to base effects is expected.
It also predicted an increase in government and pre-election spending to boost the weak consumer spending.
“However, we note that growth may be offset by a slowdown in investments due to the uncertainty usually associated with elections in Nigeria,” it stated.
“Despite our expectation of stronger growth in 2018, we believe the prolonged delay in implementing overdue reforms in the economy will continue to drag growth.
“These include: slow progress with the power sector reforms, absence of full deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector and the multiplicity of exchange rates which constrains investments and makes the economy vulnerable to shocks in the oil sector.
“Hence, growth will remain considerably below the long-term economic and population growth rates of 6.7 per cent and 2.7 per cent respectively.”
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