The Head of Banking and Finance department, Nasarawa State University, Prof. Uche Uwaleke, says Nigeria’s growth is still weak and fragile.
According to Uwaleke, the disappointing performance of the financial sector contributed to the poor showing in the quarter under review.
“The performance of the financial services sector which is critical to the economy is disappointing.”
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in its Q3 GDP report, stated that the country’s GDP grew by 1.8 per cent compared to 1.5 in the second quarter.
The first Nigerian Professor of the capital market also described as cheering news the growth of Nigeria’s economy in the third quarter of 2018.
According to Uwaleke, it marked an end to the downward trend in GDP growth noticed since the first quarter of 2017.
“Of note is the performance of the non oil sector where marginal improvements were recorded in manufacturing, especially cement production, Transportation and agriculture.
“This outcome may have been helped by the implementation of the 2018 budget which kicked-in at the beginning of the third quarter, the relative stability in the exchange rate as well as the CBN’s interventions in the real sector,” Uwaleke said.
Going forward, Uwaleke said, “There is the need to vigorously implement the capital component of the 2018 budget, invest more in education and health sectors which are lagging behind, tackle the incessant farmers-herdsmen clashes weighing down on food production and enhance access to credit by target beneficiaries of the various CBN intervention schemes.
“Overall, improvement in the ease of doing business will go a long way in increasing the risk appetite of financial institutions in Nigeria which will positively rub off on GDP growth.” he further explained.
