KPMG Nigeria’s Chief Economist and former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Nigeria Bureau of Statistics, Dr Yemi Kale has said that almost every economic sector in Nigeria is underperforming.
He stated this during the Nairametrics Q2 2023 Economic Outlook Webinar, which took place at the weekend.
Kale who said most sectors are underperforming explained that it was the reason Nigeria is unable to achieve its potential for economic growth.
He said: “You will find out that the sectors that are underperforming and the ones that are performing have a direct correlation with the ones that the government hasn’t put too much of its hand in.
“Most of the sectors are underperforming. One of them is agriculture, although the reason why agriculture contracted in the first quarter, the first time since 1982 was largely tied to the Naira redesign.
“If you look at the industrial sector, in particular manufacturing, you will see that only two or three sub-sectors in manufacturing account for about 70% of manufacturing growth, that’s food and beverage, cement, and textiles.
Just three of them account for this 70% then we have about nine that account for 30%. And these sectors are extremely important for their growth, but they account for less than 1% of our GDP.”
He said even the service sector, insurance, for example, is significantly underperforming, and a sector like mining as well is underperformance.
“If you look at economic activities of the 46 sectors you will find out that probably about 40 of them are underperforming,” he said.
Kale stated that political instability for a long period is a major limiting factor affecting economic growth, adding that Nigeria has not experienced an extended period of growth and development.
