IMF 3.2% Projections: Buhari is handing over a more resilient economy -BMO

Latest economic projection by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has shown that President Muhammadu Buhari will be handing over a stable economy to the in-coming administration of President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

This is contained in a press statement by the Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) signed by its Chairman Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke.

According to the group, this is a far cry from what the current administration inherited from the previous People’s Democratic Party (PDP)-led administration in 2015.

“IMF’s decision to retain Nigeria’s 3.2 per cent economic growth projection for 2023 in its recent world economic outlook update is, for us, a clear testament to the economic policies of the Buhari administration at a time of a global slump.

“That it went further to review its 2022 economic growth projection form 2.9 per cent to 3.0 per cent showed that Nigeria will almost certainly have a relatively good showing.

“This positive projection is however not new to us as we have regularly suggested that Nigeria, on Buhari’s watch, would exceed all expectations and prove naysayers wrong.

“We had noted in January this year, when IMF projected a 0.2 per cent increase in its earlier 3.0 per cent growth forecast for Nigeria that it was hinged on the economic thrust of the Buhari administration which we all know is centered around a diversified economy with an ever-improving non-oil sector.

“Today, it has again confirmed our position that in spite of a global slowdown and high inflation rate, Nigeria has continued to perform not only above the global average but also better than some advanced economies.

“And like the Central Bank of Nigeria, we see the IMF projection as an affirmation that the Buhari administration has been consistently doing the right things to stabilize the economy.

“We also acknowledge that this is as a result of an improvement in the country’s daily crude oil production, even as the non-oil sector continues to do well.

“So it is safe to say that President Buhari would be handing over a more resilient economy than what he met in 2015 when the economy was on a decline with no fewer than 21 States barely able to pay workers’ salaries after a slump in oil prices.

“We can easily recall that Nigeria’s GDP growth dropped from 6.54% in 2014 to 2.35% as at Q2 of 2015 when Buhari assumed office, as a result of declining oil prices.

“After almost eight years, the administration has almost weaned the country off oil in such a way that about 78 per cent of our revenue come from non-oil resources, while only 22 per cent is from the oil sector.

“Now that we are moving gradually to the terminal date of the administration, we are elated that the administration is paving way for a seamless transition by having four members of the Presidentelect Bola Tinubu’s team in the Federal Government’s delegation to the Spring Meeting of the IMF/World Bank “