The World Bank expects the Nigerian economy to grow by 2.4 percent in 2021.
The projection is contained in the bank’s Africa Pulse, a biannual analysis of the near-term macroeconomic outlook for the region.
In June, the World Bank had set the GDP growth rate at 1.8 percent.
The higher growth rate published this month is expected to be supported
by the service sector.
However, the rate remains low compared to non-resource-rich countries, such as Côte d’Ivoire and Kenya, who are expected to recover strongly from the pandemic at 6.2 and 5.0 percent, respectively.
“Nigeria’s economic growth shows little sign of speedy recovery from the 2020 recession,” the World Bank said.
“The economy grew 5 percent in the second quarter, from 0.5 percent growth in the first quarter.
“This was the third consecutive quarter of positive growth since the pandemic crisis.
“The main driver of the recovery is the non-oil sector, with a growth rate of 6.7 percent compared with 0.8 percent in the first quarter.”