The World Bank has said that since Nigeria emerged from recession, its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in 2018 is expected to be a little over two per cent, and largely oil sector driven.
According to its bi-annual economic update released yesterday in Abuja, the decline in the non-oil, non-agriculture sector has continued, as aggregate demand remained weak and private sector credit low.
It says Nigeria would benefit from policies to promote spatial integration and sub-national specialisation, which would stimulate diversified, long-term growth.
The report also stated that Nigeria’s GDP growth reached 0.8 per cent, driven by an expansion in oil output and continued steady growth in agriculture.
“The unemployment and underemployment rates increased in 2017; poverty is estimated to have increased, and spatial fragmentation and limited connections also hurt welfare and prospects for poverty reduction.”
It further added that Nigeria has a big home market, which is constrained by limited connective infrastructure thereby reducing producers and firms’ ability to reach wider markets.
This lack of connectivity dampens economic collaboration and cooperation among the country’s regions, limiting market integration and reducing producers and firms’ ability to reach wider markets.
This can be achieved through market specialisation and differentiated positioning strategies for industrial clusters across the country, according to the report.
The key challenge for policymakers at the federal and state level is to identify interventions that are best suited to realise development potential of sub national regions and integrate domestic markets.
It noted that for Nigeria to tap its spatial drivers of development, policymakers might want to focus on investments that reinforce clusters and economies of scale.
“There should be connectivity between rural areas and urban markets to address structural and land management issues in urban nodes and along growth corridors to remove or alleviate barriers to growth potential.”
