The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, on Monday, said the country will exit the current recession by the first quarter of 2021.
Channels quoted Ahmed as making the prediction about the recession at the ongoing 26th Nigerian Economic Summit organised by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group and the Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning.
It would be recalled that the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) had said that the nation’s economy has formally entered into recession as the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contracted for the second consecutive quarter by 3.62 percent in the third quarter of 2020.
Economic recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth.
Negative GDP growth is also referred to as a contraction.
Speaking at the economic summit, Finance Minister said the COVID-19-induced recession followed the pattern across the world where many countries had entered an economic recession.
“Nigeria is not alone in this, but I will say that Nigeria has outperformed all of these economies in terms of the record of a negative growth,” Ahmed said.
Also at the Economic Summit, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo emphasised that the government is committed to working in synergy with the private sector to foster equitable growth and underpin national development.
The 26th Nigerian Economic Summit focuses on building a partnership for resilience for Nigeria’s households, businesses, and the general economy.
