RIPPLES NIGERIA

As Nigerians continue to lament over the current recession in the country, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has reacted to the situation.

He said amid the recession, that Nigeria’s economy was doing well compared to the economies of other countries also in recession.

Mohammed blammed the current recession on the global collapse in oil prices due to coronavirus pandemic, adding that the economic meltdown was inevitable.

The minister, who spoke when he appeared on the NTA Morning Nigeria Show on Wednesday said:

“It is true we are in a recession. Recession comes when a country records two consecutive quarters of negative growths, but we must go beyond that to understand that despite that, our economy is still very well in circumstances.

“The main reason why we have entered into this recession is the oil sector. The oil sector recorded -13.89% and that is the worst in 14 quarters. Of course, it is easy to understand why; with the pandemic, there is low demand for oil…but when you look at the non-oil sector which is about -2.51 % in Q3, it is far better than what it was in the Q2.

“Overall, yes, we are in a recession and it is inevitable but while our Q2 result was -6.1%, South Africa was -50% and as we speak today, Finland, Hungary, Spain, Mexico, Russia, Romania, Belgium, Austria have all fallen into recession.

“But we are very confident that with the intervention policies, with the fiscal and monetary interventions the government has put in place, the recession will be short-lived.”

According to a World Bank data, the current recession in Nigeria is the worst in 36 years.