$1 trillion economy: Analyst tasks FG on creating mechanisms to meet expected target

As the federal government consolidates the economy to­wards meeting the $1 trillion projection by 2030, an eco­nomics and financial analyst has charged the government to put mechanisms in place that would align current economic realities with the expected economic growth.

Presenting his paper on Tuesday in Lagos at the ninth edition of Nigerian Associa­tion of Insurance and Pension Editors’ (NAIPE) Conference with the theme: ‘Towards A $1trillion Economy, Roles of Insurance And Pension Sec­tors,’ Dr. Afolabi Olowookere, the Managing Director, An­alysts Data Services & Re­sources Limited, advised the government to tinker with the current policies and speed up infrastructure development to encourage more investments, if it must realise the $1 trillion economy projection.

According to Olowookere, the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew from 2.98 per cent in the first quarter of the year to 3.19 per cent in the second quarter, noting that the forecasts in the short to medium term remained weak, reports Daily Independent.

He said inflation and oth­er socio-economic manifesta­tions, such as interest rates could constitute obstacles to achieving the projection.

“Inflation rate rose from 21.82 per cent in January 2023 to 34.19 per cent in June 2024 and declined slightly to 33.40 per cent in July 2024 and further to 32.15 per cent in Au­gust 2024.

“Inflation reached 32.15 per cent on Year-on-Year (YoY) in August 2024, driven mainly by food price inflation and loose financial conditions.

“With continued monetary tightening, International Monetary Fund (IMF) proj­ects inflation would grad­ually decline to 24 per cent (YoY) at the end of 2024 and further to 14 per cent by 2027. Hence, interest rate is expect­ed to remain relatively high in response to inflation and economic instability,” he said.

Olowookere emphasised that managing the economy under the current economic setting would, at best, grow the economy to around $450 billion by the projected 2030 date.

Reflecting on the current GDP position, the financial analyst identified the leading contributors to Nigerian out­puts to include agriculture, ICT, trade and manufactur­ing.