The World Bank has said that Nigeria is on the path to becoming home to a quarter of the world’s destitute people in the next 10 years.
In the Nigeria Economic Update released by the global financial institution on Monday, it was revealed that the country’s economy will see a expansion by 2.1 percent in 2020 and 2021, which is below the 2.6 percent population growth.
The bank also used the opportunity to call on the country’s policymakers to revive economic growth as well as create employment opportunities. It advised President Muhammadu Buhari to increase domestic revenue, remove trade restrictions and improve the predictability of economic policy.
It also called on the government to remove expensive fuel subsidies and reduce central bank lending to targeted sectors that crowds out banks.
“The cost of inaction is significant. Under a business-as-usual scenario, where Nigeria maintains the current pace of growth and employment levels, by 2030 the number of Nigerians living in extreme poverty could increase by more than 30 million,” the bank said in the report.
This report establishes that half of Nigeria’s estimated 200 million people live in poverty considering that in 2018, Nigeria overtook India as the country with the largest number of people in extreme poverty.
Nigeria’s economy is still recovering from its first annual contraction in 25 years in 2016 that resulted from a collapse in crude prices.
This also spells doom for the country as the report said Nigeria could slide back into recession if crude prices fall by 25 percent from the $60 per barrel benchmark.
In the face of closed landed borders and hike in food prices that drove the country’s inflation to 11.61 percent as at October, today the country is faced with low ranking in terms of health and equality with a life expectancy of 54 years.
