The Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce has said that businesses would have to contend with economic headwinds this year, mostly driven by the general elections.
NBCC President, Adebisi Adeyemi, stated this during the chamber’s 2023 economic outlook.
She said, “In alignment with our cardinal mandate as a chamber and our commitment to continue to elevate the value proposition to our members and all our stakeholders, we host this event annually to undertake a comprehensive assessment of the opportunities, challenges, and indeed, the threats that businesses should expect to contend with during the year, both in the country and globally.
Adeyemi described the economic outlook as a sneak peek that would allow businesses to get an inkling of how the business environment would pan out in 2023.
In his keynote presentation, the Chief Executive Officer of Financial Derivatives, Bismarck Rewane, said a global recession sometime later in the year would likely trigger layoffs and job losses for many within the Nigerian labour pool.
According to him, the economy would contend with a high-interest rate, persistent fiscal deficits, market inefficiency, price distortions and low oil production in 2023.
Noting that the country’s economy was getting integrated into the global economy, Rewane said this integration has made the economy more vulnerable to shocks, particularly, the non-oil sector of the economy.
“We are looking at a mild recession, we are looking at a high-interest rate,” Rewane said.
On the projected economic growth for 2023, Rewane said an earlier 3 per cent growth projection was further revised to 2.5 per cent in view of the current economic realities and how the 2023 polls would affect economic activities.
The economist noted that the slow growth of Nigeria’s economy would take a toll on businesses, adding that the aviation, manufacturing and agricultural sectors would be vulnerable to climate change in 2023.
Conversely, the financial expert tipped manufacturing, ICT, trade, real estate and construction, financial services and agriculture as sectors that would drive economic growth in 2023.
On Nigeria’s debt profile, Rewane said the economy would be challenged by huge debt servicing costs and subsidies, while a high possibility of debt restructuring remains in the offing.
Source:punchng
