The Federal Government on Friday said economic activities in Nigeria were currently recovering from the recession of last year.
It said this was based on the fact that Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product which declined by 6.1 per cent year-on-year in real terms in second quarter 2020 witnessed a contraction of 3.6 per cent in the third quarter of same year.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, said this in a presentation on the Federal Government’s Economic Recovery Plans for 2021, as contained in a statement issued in Abuja by her aide, Yunusa Abdullahi.
She was quoted as saying, “By 2021, the economy will recover from recession. According to the International Monetary Fund, the Nigerian economy will rebound from the estimated contraction of 3.2 per cent in 2020 to growth of 1.5 per cent in 2021.
“From 2023 to 2025, Nigeria’s growth is projected to surpass that of the advanced economies.”
Ahmed named sectors that recorded the biggest gains in GDP growth in third quarter 2020 to include construction, 2.8 per cent; broadcasting, 3.5 per cent; quarrying and other mineral production 41.8 per cent.
Others include telecommunications, 17.3 per cent; cement manufacturing, 11.9 per cent; financial institutions, 6.8 per cent; chemicals and pharmaceuticals, 6.6 per cent; food and beverage manufacturing, 5.6 per cent; and public administration, 3.6 per cent.
The minister said the focus of the government was to accelerate economic recovery from the recession and return to diversified, sustainable and inclusive economic growth.
She said, “The expectation is anchored on the various interventions introduced to cushion the negative consequences of the pandemic.
“While there is always a lag between intervention and outcome, we can already see benefits on the economy as recorded in the better-than-expected results for Q3 2020. Data for Q4 is expected from the NBS later this month.”
Ahmed said preliminary figures indicated that as at year end 2020, the Federal Government’s retained revenue was N3.94tn, representing 73 per cent of target.
She said the Federal Government’s share of oil revenues was N1.52tn, representing 157 per cent performance; non-oil tax revenues was N1.28tn or 79 per cent of revised target; while companies income tax and Value Added Tax collections were N673.22bn and N192.66bn, representing 82 and 68 per cent respectively of the revised targets for the period.
Also, Customs collections totalled N410.21bn, 79 per cent of revised target; and other revenues amounted to N993.73bn.
To complement private sector relief funds, Ahmed said the Central Bank of Nigeria had to provide targeted sectoral interventions.
On targeted credit facility, she said N192.64bn was disbursed to 426,016 beneficiaries under the COVID-19 TCF; agri-business small and medium enterprises investment scheme had disbursed N10.96bn to 27,956 beneficiaries.
She said healthcare support intervention facility disbursed N72.96bn to 73 projects that comprised 26 pharmaceutical projects and 47 hospitals and healthcare services project across the country.
