Fed Govt Projects 61% Growth In GDP Per Capita By 2025
The Federal Government has said that it expects Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product per capita to rise to $3,706.29 by 2025.
This represents about 61 per cent projected growth from the $2300 GDP per capita growth forecast for 2021.
This was stated in the National Development Plan 2021-2025.
The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investments, Niyi Adebayo, had said the country’s GDP which currently hovers around $500bn was experiencing steady growth, projecting that the GDP per capita would rise to $2,300 by the end of the year.
He said, “The GDP per capita is expected to reach $2,300 by the end of 2021, this is over 84 per cent higher than the African average.
“Despite the view that Nigeria’s economy has historically been driven by oil, recent growth has been driven primarily by the non-oil sectors, such as financial services, telecommunications, and entertainment.
“This shows that our diversification agenda is working, the oil sector now only contributes to approximate 14 per cent of the GDP
He added that investors from places as diverse as Europe, China, Morocco, and the United Kingdom were making strong commitments to the country.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday launched the National Development Plan 2021-2025, which requires an investment size of N348.1tn to achieve its targets.
He also said 85.7per cent (N298.3tn) of this amount would come from the private sector while the government would provide 14.3 per cent (N49.7tn).
The administration also plans to generate 21 million full-time jobs, and through an inclusive growth, lift 35 million people out of poverty.
The projections for the GDP per capita include $2,227.17 for 2021, $2,541.54 for 2022, $2,886.19 for 2023, $3,276.73 for 2024, and $3,706.29 for 2025.
The Federal Government further downgraded its projections for the GDP, which was seven per cent by 2020, according to the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan 2017–2020.
The regime projects 2.93 per cent by 2021, 4.18 per cent by 2022, 4.39 per cent by 2023, 5.43 per cent by 2024, and 6.33 per cent by 2025.
In order to drive growth in the economy, the Federal Government is focused on enhancing fiscal performance with plans to spend not less than 30 per cent of its expenditures on capital investments.
The plan read in part, “Enhanced fiscal performance is one of the main pillars of this plan. Government plans to spend not less than 30 per cent of its expenditures on capital investment.
“To ensure the sustainability of this spending pattern while sustaining growth trajectories, recurrent expenditure of government will be maintained at optimal levels while a concerted effort will be geared towards domestic resource mobilization; especially in enhancing nonoil revenues to significantly decouple the economy from the impact of volatile oil prices.”
The government also plans to focus more on the non-oil sector, while ensuring exchange rate and fiscal stability.
The NDP further read in part, “This plan will place greater emphasis on nonoil sector growth to insulate the economy from exogenous commodity shocks and ensure exchange rate and fiscal stability.
“The outbreak of COVID-19 alongside its disruption of global supply chains has shown the need for countries to explore local sourcing of essential primary and intermediate inputs.
“An outcome of this strategy is the need for the development of DVCs with the prospect of linking up to GVCs in a strategic manner.”
According to the plan, the government at all levels will commit about 1 per cent of the GDP each year from 2022 to boost employment in the country.
It read, “The government at all levels will commit about one per cent of GDP per annum from 2022 to reverse the current unemployment trend in the country: This plan will prioritise investment in human development to provide equitable access to quality education and health services to all Nigerians.”
