Nigeria’s economy has recorded its fastest first-quarter growth in six years, the minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy, Mr. Wale Edun, has declared.
He made the assertion yesterday in Abuja at the newly introduced quarterly media briefing.
Edun said, “The economy in Nigeria grew faster in the first quarter of 2024 compared to 2023. Economic activity in the first quarter of 2024 was faster than in Q1 2023, but it’s the second fastest first-quarter growth in the last six years.”
He continued, “The growth is broad-based, agriculture, industries, services. And agricultural growth has been dragged from negative in the first quarter of 2023 to a modest growth in the first quarter of 2024.”
While highlighting the industrial sector’s performance, Edun said, “As far as industry is concerned, the figures show that the industrial sector grew seven times faster than in Q1 2023.” He attributed this positive economic performance to the government’s well-coordinated fiscal and monetary policies.
The government has implemented several initiatives and interventions to address the high cost of living, including a strategic input programme to increase food supply, a pivot to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) fuel for mass transit vehicles, and providing lower-cost financing for the manufacturing industry and production, he said.
The finance minister expressed optimism that inflation, despite being “quite sticky at the moment,” will moderate soon due to the government’s commitments and actions.
Regarding the government’s revenue, Edun revealed that aggregate federal government revenue in the first half of 2024 was more than double that of the corresponding period in 2023. He attributed this to the reconfiguration and improvement in government finances, with oil revenue as a percentage of gross revenue increasing from 11% in the first half of 2023 to 30% in the first half of 2024.
The finance minister also highlighted the strong performance of non-oil revenue, which not only surpassed the revenue in the first half of 2023 but was also 30% above the 2024 budget target, without any increases in taxes.
The minister also spoke on the Supreme Court ruling that granted financial autonomy to Nigeria’s 774 local government areas. He said it was yet to commence direct payment to the respective area councils due to some “practical impediments” that made it impossible.
Edun, said the proceedings of the court judgement had not been communicated to the attorney-general of the federation for proper understudy and implementation.
However, Mr Edun said the federal government has set up a committee to examine the judgment’s practicability. “The actual proceeding has not been handed down to the AGF,” he stated on Thursday at a quarterly media briefing on recent economic activities in the country
He denied that it is paying extra money to augment the shortfall in the landing cost of refined petrol products, a claim that betrays current realities.
