Nigeria Not In Recession: Kemi Adeosun

Abuja, Nigeria – The Nigerian economy is not feared of recession, said finance minister of the country on Tuesday while briefing to Senate committee in the capital.

Kemi Adeosun added the country is not worried about the International Monetary Fund forecast that growth would shrink this year.

IMF said the Nigerian economy may contract by 1.8 percent this year.

Adeosun said there is no panic and people should be confident about what they are doing and where the country is going.

On paper Nigeria is the biggest economy in Africa and the countyr mostly depends on sales of oil. In past two years the oil prices across the world have dropped and this may lead to negative impact on the government revenue.

The country is also facing a complicated situation. The government claims previous administration has left nothing in the treasury.

Nara currency has weekened, foreign exchange has dried up, investment has stalled and government is struggling for paying the public sector wages.

According to National Bureau of Statistics, in the month of June the inflation rose to 16.5 percent, which is the highest in about eleven years. It may further rise up to 20 percent by the end of 2016.

Adeosun said, “Technically. If you go into two quarters of negative growth, technically you are in recession.”

However, she explained further that they should not dwell on definition, but where the country is actually going and it is predicted the recession would be very short.