Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed says there is hope for the country’s economic sector as the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country witnessed a growth of 0.51 percent in the first quarter of the year 2021.
Ahmed made the remark in Abuja on Wednesday, while briefing State House Correspondents at the end of this week’s cabinet meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Minister noted that the growth is because of an improvement in business activities, following the lifting of the lockdown associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
She said: “Today at the Federal Executive Council, the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning presented the first quarter of 2021 GDP results and other performance indicators of Nigeria. I am sure you are aware that the NBS released its first quarter result last week, which estimates and reports that Nigerian GDP has grown to 0.51% year-on-year in real terms in the First Quarter of 2021.
“This first quarter performance marks the second consecutive quarter of positive real GDP growth following two previous consecutive quarters of negative growth in 2020, in Q3, and Q4, which saw our country going into recession, but you’ll recall that we very quickly exited recession in the fourth quarter of 2020.
“The improved economic condition that has been reported is indicated by the fact that 23 out of 46 activities recorded growth in the first quarter of 2021, compared to 17 in the previous quarter.
“Also, there is a further illustration that the slow, but gradual recovery process is indicative of the fact that business operations are returning to normal and that restrictions of movements and commercial activities have been relaxed after extended closure in the year 2020.”
The Finance Minister said the agricultural sector witnessed a strong growth, showing its resilience.
“The agricultural sector posted a strong growth at the rate of 2.28% in the first quarter of 2021, compared to previous quarters. This growth in agriculture signifies the resilience of the agricultural sector.
“Also, the industry sector has recorded positive growth, even though a weak one, but the growth is a positive one and this marks the past quarter of growth over the past one year in the industry sector. Services recorded a slight dip, but a small one at 0.39%.
“In addition to the economic activities and the reopening of our businesses, growth was also boosted, in fact by increase in crude oil prices as well as increase in production in the first quarter of 2020.
“We have seen this positive growth being contributed by not just the oil sector, but also by economic activities within the metal sector, the cement sector, electricity, telecommunications, food and beverages as well as human health and social services,” Ahmed added.
She however noted that some sectors did not witness growth and a lot would be done to improve them too.
“On the other hand, there have been some sectors that recorded negative growth and these sectors include quarrying and other minerals, oil refinery, road transport, air transport, rail transport, education, as well as hotel accommodation and food services.
“So, it’s important for us to know that amidst the global pandemic, which is gradually improving, and the return of international trade, recovery in oil prices and successful vaccination programmes across the world are contributing to favourable results in most economies,” she said.
Environment
Also speaking, Minister of Environment, Muhammad Mahmood said the council approved a revised National Policy on Environment for the country.
He said: “The council approved a revised national policy on climate change. The last one was in 2012 and it became necessary for us to revise back on what has been happening in the last three years since 2012 particularly with the various agreements.
“We all know climate change is our topic today, it has serious implications on the economy, livelihoods. The environment in general and climate change affects everybody but we have realized that it affects women even more.
“We also know that we have national policy on gender and climate change as approved. This revised one has also taken into consideration the national policy on gender and climate change to include women in almost every aspect of climate projects execution.
“We all know that recently, a lot of flooding has been happening and is all as a result of climate change, insecurity is relatable with climate change. This climate change policy has repositioned Nigerians to begin to upgrade.
“Its implementation strategy Is to be all encompassing. We have met with several MDAs, agencies and civil society organizations and even the media because this is something that requires all hands on deck as we are all potential polluters of the environment causing climate change.”
The Environment Minister said the objective of the revised policy is to help Nigeria be more climate resilient and gender sensitive in the future, because the world is moving towards carbon neutrality.
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