▪︎Doris Uzoka-Anite, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment .
The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) says that urgent steps must be taken by the government to save the trade and industrial sectors of the economy from total collapse.
In a review of the fourth quarter of 2023, LCCI President, Gabriel Idahosa, pointed out that trade recorded a 1.53 percent real growth in the third quarter compared to 2.41 per cent in the second quarter of 2023, while manufacturing slowed to 0.48 per cent from 2.20 per cent recorded in the second quarter of 2023.
He blamed the slow growth of the sectors the last six months, on the deregulation of the downstream oil sector and rising energy costs (diesel and electricity tariff), exchange rate volatility, continuous rise in interest rates, high inflation and weak consumers demand.
” Trade recorded a 1.53 % decline in the third quarter…, while manufacturing slowed to 0.48 % … in the second quarter of 2023.”
Idahosa recalled that the World Bank, in its recently-released January 2024 Global Economic Prospects (GEP), projects global growth to slow to 2.4 per cent in 2024 from an estimated 2.6 per cent growth in 2023.
▪︎ LCCI President, Gabriel Idahosa
“This implies the third consecutive year of deceleration, reflecting the lagged and ongoing effects of tight monetary policies to rein in decades-high inflation, restrictive credit conditions and anemic global trade and investment,” he said.