The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reported that businesses, while optimistic about the broader macroeconomic environment, anticipate further depreciation of the naira this month and in the first quarter of 2025.
In its November 2024 Business Expectation Survey Report, the CBN noted a pessimistic outlook from firms regarding key metrics, including business activities, financial conditions, access to credit, total orders, and average capacity utilisation.
The report stated:
“The overall confidence index (CI) on the macroeconomy indicated optimism among businesses in November 2024.
“However, businesses expect the naira to depreciate this month, next month, and over the next three months, but to appreciate over the next six months.
“The optimism in the current month’s outlook stems from respondents across all sectors. The construction sector, in particular, expressed confidence in its own operations during the review period.
“While respondents were optimistic about business activity volumes for upcoming months, their outlook on financial conditions, access to credit, and total orders remained negative in November.”
The report also highlighted a positive outlook for employment, with businesses planning to hire more workers in December 2024, especially within the agriculture sector.
Separately, the CBN’s latest Consumer Expectation Survey Report revealed consumer pessimism about the macroeconomy in November.
Households predicted rising costs for transportation, rent, vehicle and house purchases, as well as medical expenses this month.
The report also indicated that while the prices of durable and non-durable household items remain high, 61.1% and 57.6% of respondents expect these prices to decline this month and next month, respectively.