Okonjo-Iweala, Aganga, O’Neill Say Economy Can Grow At 10%

The Nigerian economy has the capacity to grow at double digit rate of 10 per cent per annum, the Coordinating Minister of the Economy Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Minister of Trade and Investment Dr Olusegun Aganga and the former Chairman Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Chief Economist, Goldman Sachs, Mr Jim O’Neill have said.
The trio in different presentations at the third annual Investor Conference organised by FBN Capital, maintained that Nigeria’s population of 160 million and vast resources provide opportunities that can make the country’s economy expand at double digit.
Okonjo-Iweala who spoke through a televised broadcast at the conference with the theme “Tomorrow’s Nigeria Through Economic Empowerment” noted that government’s effort at diversifying the economy as well as the rebasing of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is expected to make the country the fastest growing economy in Africa.
She stressed the need to grow at about nine to 10 per cent, saying the current growth rate “has come with increasing inequality and we need to change that pattern of growth. That is why we are working on agriculture and industrialisation.”
O’Neill on his part said Nigeria’s economy “could easily” grow at the rate of 10 per cent if the newly privatised power industry ends daily electricity cuts.
The Chief Economist at Goldman Sachs who ranked Nigeria alongside Mexico, Indonesia and Turkey as part of his MINT countries with the largest emerging-market populations, said Nigeria’s population was key to unlocking “enormous” growth potential.

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