Again, LCCI tasks FG on recession

The Lagos Chamber of commerce and Industry (LCCI) on Tuesday cautioned about growing prospects of the nation’s economy sliding into very deep recession at the end of the third quarter this year.

Giving the warning at the chamber’s quarterly media briefing in Lagos, the President, Mrs, Toki Mabogunje, urged the federal government and other institutional stakeholders to adopt appropriate strategies to boost productivity across the broad spectrum of the economy.

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Mabogunje, who spoke against the backdrop of the lingering COVID-19 pandemic impact on all sectors of the economy, projected that “it is expected that the economic fallout of the pandemic, notably disruptions to global supply chains, lockdown, travel restrictions, weakening oil prices, foreign exchange liquidity challenges and weak export would manifest in the second-quarter growth numbers, with more pronounced impact on sectors struggling with growth before this crisis.

“As the pandemic protracts and commercial activities remained subdued, the prognosis is that the economy could slip into recession by the end of the third quarter,” she added.

Noting that the business community continues to suffer from the unprecedented crisis precipitated by the pandemic and associated containment measures, the organized private sector (OPS) leader lamented that the “impact is more pronounced on micro and small enterprises, with inadequate financial buffers to withstand shocks of this magnitude.”

Mabogunje further explained that though LCCI appreciated the efforts of the federal and state governments, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and private corporations towards mitigating the impact of the pandemic on the business community, there was the need for the federal government to provide stimulus packages for sectors that had mostly been devastated.