THE African Development Bank (AfDB) on Wednesday predicted slow economic growth for the continent in 2022.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday announced a 3.11 percent increase in Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the first quarter of this year as against the 0.51 percent recorded in the corresponding period in 2021.
The AfDB President, Akinwunmi Adesina, who disclosed this at the Bank’s Annual General Meeting in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, said Nigeria and other countries in Africa would need at least $432 billion to fully recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The recovery for Africa will be very costly. Africa will need at least $432 billion to address the effects of Covid19 on its economies + on the lives of its people, resources that it does not have.”
“The measures taken already by the global community, especially the Debt Service Suspension Initiative, the G20 Common Framework for Debt Treatments, and the issuance of the $650 billion Special Drawing Rights by the @IMFNews, have all helped.”
On the outlook of Africa’s economy, he said while the Real GDP rebounded strongly in 2021, growing by 6.9 percent in comparison to this year’s outcome, he said the continent would record slow growth of 4.1 percent in 2022.
He listed the crippling effects of the pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict as reasons for the slow economic growth.
