Nigeria is continuing to gradually recover from the recession caused by the drop in international oil prices in 2014, with the economy returning to positive growth in 2017 and the IMF estimating that GDP will expand by 1.9% in 2018 and 2.3% in 2019. That said, more remains to be done to achieve economic diversification, and major reforms are expected to be enacted following the general election in
In January 2017 Nestlé, the world’s largest food and beverage company, announced a shift in its strategy for Africa. “The bedrock of our business is really where the bulk of the population resides,” John Martin Miller, the company’s senior vice-president for Africa, Asia and Oceania, told international media in Lagos. “For the next five to 10 years [the populations of sub-Saharan…
Given Nigeria’s demographics, the country’s retail sector holds significant potential. However, in line with many other African economies, formal retailing remains nascent and accounts for just 5% of all shopping. With 189m consumers in the country, there is ample room for growth, but navigating domestic hurdles has proven difficult. Currency depreciation and rising inflation, combined with a recession…
Nigeria is the biggest economy in Africa with a GDP of $487bn in 2015, according to the World Bank. The country assumed the mantle of the continent’s largest economy in 2013, following a rebasing exercise. However, its large population means that Nigeria remains a comparatively poor country in per-capita terms, with a lower GDP per capita than several of its sub-Saharan neighbours. Following a r
Given Nigeria’s demographics, the country’s retail sector holds significant potential. However, in line with many other African economies, formal retailing remains nascent and accounts for just 5% of all shopping. With 180m consumers in the country, there is ample room for growth, but navigating domestic hurdles has proven difficult. Currency depreciation and rising inflation, combined…
One of the most visible policy moves by Nigerian authorities in 2016 has been to limit access to foreign currency in the country. The decision to institute capital controls was rolled out as a result of low oil prices, which have led to a drop in dollar-denominated export revenues and put the naira under increasing pressure. To limit the need for the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to use up its foreign…
The global trend towards more open trade has in recent years faced a number of setbacks, ranging from stalled World Trade Organisation talks to rising protectionism and the UK’s vote to leave the EU. Nigeria is no exception, where a push to increase import substitution, which is intended to reverse a decline in foreign exchange and reduce the non-oil trade deficit, is being rolled out at the same…
The popular “Africa Rising” narrative has largely been predicated on the emergence of a growing middle class on the continent, providing a steady rise in consumer demand to go with the increased export receipts and lower public debt burdens seen across Africa. But with oil prices falling since mid-2014, along with a rising US dollar and slowing demand in China, this theory has been challenged.…
The industrial sector of what is arguably Africa’s largest economy is a diversified group of producers and outputs. With a wide range of accessible feedstock, from agricultural products to hydrocarbons, along with Africa’s biggest consumer market, the possibilities are substantial. The volume of output is small, however, and Nigeria is forced to import most of what it consumes, including the raw…
The industrial sector of what is arguably Africa’s largest economy is a diversified group of producers and outputs, ranging from the large-scale cement plants of Dangote Group, the continent’s largest cement producer, to cottage industries such as plantain chips. With a wide range of accessible feedstock, from agricultural products to hydrocarbons, along with Africa’s largest consumer market,…