Nigeria’s economic confidence falls by 3% in one year- Report

Amid economic turbulence in 2018 for countries across the world, Nigeria faced its lowest economic confidence scores, after a fall in the fourth quarter (Q4) of the year by three per cent, the latest edition of Global Economic Conditions (GECS) has revealed. Globally, confidence levels higher in Africa second only to South Asia, beating North America, Middle East, Central, and Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific, Western Europe, and the Caribbean. The latest report from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and Institute of Management Accountants (IMA), which included a highlight from the poll of 82 Nigerian accountants, stated that in the midst of a poor near-term outlook, a fall in oil prices is expected to weigh on exports and government revenues. Commenting on this development in Nigeria, Head of ACCA Nigeria, Thomas Isibor, said: ‘The report finds that despite an improvement in the non-oil economy, consumer demand is soft, restrained by a 23 per cent unemployment rate. The overall GDP growth in 2019 is likely to be very modest at between 2 per cent to 2.5 per cent. Presidential elections in February increase uncertainty in the near term but the outcome may result in more business-friendly policies.” Reacting also, the Head of Business Insights at ACCA, Narayanan Vaidyanathan, said of the global results, ‘Economic confidence over 2018 has been turbulent, with the end of the calendar year results downbeat compared to the start of 2018. It’s been interesting to look back at the GECS from the start of 2018 when we recorded economic confidence at its highest since the first survey was issued assessing Q1 2009. Last year was clearly a roller-coaster ride and the outlook for 2019 is also uncertain.’ The global poll of 3,800 accountants shows that all key regions recorded a negative confidence score with signs of growth weakening in the world’s three biggest economies – the US, China, and the Eurozone. Global economic confidence fell for the third consecutive quarter in Q4 2018, ending the year at an all-time low. The survey revealed that respondents were pessimistic about the outlook ahead, with the lowest scores recorded in Western Europe and the Caribbean. The least pessimistic part of the global economy was again South Asia, followed by Africa and North America. This raises concerns about rising costs, with 55 per cent of respondents globally considering laying off staff, with just 18 per cent considering taking on new workers. It also pointed out that 39 per cent of respondents are considering scaling back investment in new capital projects, compared with just 16 per cent who are looking to increase investment in new projects. The possibility of suppliers going out of business being a concern for just 12% of respondents – unchanged from Q3. Meanwhile, the Federal Government of Nigeria has introduced a new policy known as the Strategic Revenue Growth Initiative aimed at generating more revenues to finance projects across the federation. Minister of Finance, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, who officially launched the initiative on Wednesday in Abuja, said that the aim was to spur all the revenue-generating agencies in the country to increase their targets to enable the government to execute more projects in all sectors of the economy especially the critical infrastructure. The major revenue generating agencies including representatives of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), NNPC, Accountant-General of the Federation and Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority made presentations on the initiatives they would introduce in their respective agencies to increase revenue.

Motolani Oseni