IMF: Nigeria exiting recession but economy remains vulnerable

Nigeria is exiting recession but its economy remains vulnerable, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Friday, after conducting a review of Africa’s largest economy.

“Overall growth is slowly picking up but recovery remains challenging,” the IMF said in a statement about the review. Macroeconomic and structural reforms remain urgent to contain any vulnerability, it said.

The Bretton Woods Institition in the report acknowledged that it expects country’s economic growth to continue to pick up in 2018 to 2.1 per cent, driven by the full year impact of more access to foreign exchange and higher oil production.

The IMF added that low oil prices, security issues and absence of new policies still threaten the country’s economic recovery.

It, however, advised that moving toward a unified and market-based exchange rate as soon as possible while continuing to strengthen external buffers would be necessary to increase confidence and reduce potential risks from capital flow reversals.