Economy on growth path – Udoma

The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma says Nigeria’s economy is firmly on the path of growth.

Udoma, in a statement in Abuja said, the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the fourth quarter, 2018 showed the strongest performance since the economy emerged from recession.

The minister made this known at a gathering of media professionals at the Nigeria Union of Journalists Press Centre, Uyo, Akwa Ibom on Wednesday.

The report shows that the real GDP grew by 2.38 per cent, indicating the strongest quarter growth since the economy slipped into recession in 2016.

The full year 2018 real GDP stood at 1.93 per cent, higher than the 0.82 per cent growth rate recorded in 2017.

Udoma said that the report showed that 39 out of 46 economic activities were now growing.

“Agriculture is growing, Manufacturing is growing, and Services has recorded its best performance in 11 quarters.

“Particularly notable is the fact that the growth is driven by the non-oil sector which has recorded its strongest growth since the fourth quarter of 2015.

“In short, we have turned the corner and are now firmly on the path of growth,” he said.

According to him, the current real GDP growth performance is most encouraging and shows a movement in a very positive direction, especially with regard to the non-oil sector performance.

Udoma assured that with the Buhari administration’s commitment to the implementation of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), the economy would further be strengthened.

He explained that at inception, the administration faced real crisis in the economy which included a sharp drop in oil revenues with consequent fiscal challenges.

The minister, however, was delighted that the implementation of the ERGP was yielding positive results.

“We have improved oil production to take advantage of the slight recovery in oil prices.

“The economy is now on a positive growth path after exiting recession in second quarter, 2017 and other macroeconomic indicators have also witnessed significant improvement,” he said.

Udoma further assured that the Federal Government was committed to implementing the minimum wage as part of efforts toward improving the standard of living of workers.

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