ECONOMY: Hardship not over, as NBS says effects of recession will linger

The Statistician-General for the Federation and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Chief Executive Officer, Dr Yemi Kale, on Wednesday said reports that Nigeria has exited recession was real but warned that effects of the about two years economic downturn will linger for sometime.

There has been insinuation in some quarters that the report could have been politically motivated to give President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government a face-lift.

Nigeria has experienced what some analysts said is its worst economic situation ever since the return to democratic rule in 1999.

But Kale, who refuted the claim that the report is politically motivated, said that although Nigeria has exited recession, it will take some time before the real impact of coming out of economic downturn will be felt by the citizens.

He stated this during a chat with journalists in Abuja on Wednesday where he explained that NBS as an agency of government has the independence to carry out survey and publish its findings based on international best practices.

Kale said that if he could risk his reappointment during the tail end of his tenure to publish economic reports that were not in favour of government activities, that it was not possible for him to doctor report to favour government now that he has been reappointed.

“In this administration, I am the one that published that we are in recession, and I am also the one that is saying, we are now out of recession,” he said.

Speaking further he said, “There is a different stage Nigeria must go through before the masses will feel the effects of going out of recession.

Read also: Buhari says he’s happy Nigeria has exited recession but ….

“Out of recession is the first step which is very important then the country can talk of economic recovery which is going back to where Nigeria was before the recession.

“Recession is just a technical word; we are comparing 2017 and 2016.

“Recession is not about the price of your goods, not whether unemployment is going up or down, not whether you have quality education; it’s purely your gross domestic product. Your outputs of goods and services in the economy are going down and the Gross Domestic Products (GDP) is an accumulation of 46 different economic activities in Nigeria and the overall number.

“Whether positive or negative will determine whether you are in recession or out of recession. Now, within those 46 activities, some sectors will do very well and will be positive, some will do badly, some will do worse and some will stay the same way they are.”

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