The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprises (CPPE) says the Nigerian economy, despite intense macroeconomic headwinds in 2024, exhibited resilience due to gross domestic product performance.

CPPE founder Muda Yusuf said this on Monday in Lagos. Mr Yusuf noted that while the GDP grew at 2.98 per cent in the first quarter, 3.19 per cent in the second quarter and 3.46 per cent in the third quarter, it might close the year at about 3.6 per cent.

According to him, this is at par with forecasts for GDP growth for sub-Saharan Africa and is better than the global GDP forecast of 3.2 per cent.

Regarding sectoral performances in the year, Mr Yusuf noted that while the service sector continued to dominate growth performance, the real sector remained subdued.

He explained that the implication was that sectors with high job creation potential and prospects for economic inclusion struggled.

“This situation needs to be reversed to fix the current high unemployment and reduce poverty.

“The huge disparities in the growth of financial services and the rest of the economy showed a disconnect and exemplified the failure of the financial intermediation role of the financial services sector in the Nigerian economy.

“There is a need for appropriate policy measures to correct the huge disparity in the profitability of the real economy and the financial economy,” he said.

The CPPE boss, reviewing the oil and non-oil sectors’ performances, said from a structural perspective, the non-oil sector continued to dominate the economic space, contributing 94.43 per cent to GDP in Q3.

He, however, noted that the economy was characterised by a paradox of the oil sector contributing an estimated 90 per cent of foreign exchange earnings while the non-oil sector accounted for about 10 per cent.

Mr Yusuf said this was another dimension of a structural shortcoming in the economy that needed to be addressed.

On foreign exchange, Mr Yusuf noted that from July to December, the rate had largely stabilised, informed by the series of regulatory reforms and the periodic intervention by the Central Bank of Nigeria in the market.

He said the outlook for the exchange rate in 2025 was on the upside, based on sustained improvement in foreign reserves which is currently in excess of $40 billion.

He added that the rate would be on the upside, hinged on improvement in accretion to reserves on the back of improved inflows from the IMTOs and diaspora remittances.

Mr Yusuf said an improved capacity of the CBN to moderate rate volatility through periodic intervention would improve the market alongside the positive impact of the $2 billion Euro Bond proceeds on reserves.

(NAN)