Nigeria’s economy could contract 8.9% this year without stimulus, Lagos-based ThisDay newspaper reported, citing Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed. Measures being put in place could slow the contraction to 4.4% and if current stimulus packages are well implemented, the contraction will only be 0.5%, Ahmed said, according to the newspaper. Nigeria’s oil revenues declined by 125.5 billion naira ($326 million) in the first quarter, an indication of the headwinds the economy is already facing from the coronavirus pandemic and low crude prices, she said.
The International Monetary Fund projects gross domestic product will contract by 3.4% this year in Africa’s most populous country.