Economic crisis presents growth opportunities, say CBN, CIBN

While the nation continues to grapple with macroeconomic challenges, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) have urged stakeholders to explore strategies to deepen structural reforms and transform the economy on a sustainable basis.

According to the apex bank and CIBN, the continued decline in global growth amidst rising uncertainties reinforces the need for players in the economy to explore fresh opportunities for growth by looking inward for domestic production and infrastructural development.

Noting that a possible global recession is likely to happen, the CBN noted that the Nigerian economy remains resilient and could come out stronger if structural reforms are properly implemented.

The Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability, Dr. Joseph Nnana, during the business breakfast meeting on economic outlook for the nation in 2016 organised by the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), maintained that current economic challenges are not completely new or peculiar to Nigeria, but stressed that the consensus is a global phenomenon and would require what he called the resilience of the Nigerian spirit and the nation’s resolve to learn the right lessons to pull through.

“On our part, we recognised that we have been through this road before as we recall that in the mid-1980s, oil price declined to as low as $12 per barrel. During that period, the economy experienced twin deficits as budget collapsed due to fiscal contraction and balance of payment went into deficit as export also declined. It seems we are having a replay of what happened three decades ago. Nigeria pulled through mainly on account of the resilience of the Nigerian spirit and our resolve to learn the right lessons and chart a proactive course of action,” he said.

He added that there is no gain saying Nigeria like other frontier market is not immune to adverse global economic conditions, given the speed and impact of globalisation, economic challenges in any part of the world are easily surmounted in a matter of months as a result of inter-linkages with global financial markets, saying that this explains why current global economic developments are impacting on domestic economies in a more profound ways than ever imagined in the past.

According to him, 2015 presented a mixed grill in global economic conditions as global growth declined from 10.4 per cent in 2014 to a projected 10.1 per cent in 2015, but stated that the IMF recently revised its growth outlook for 2016, to 3.4 per cent on account of slowdown in China and persistent decline in oil prices globally.