World Bank Says Nigeria’s Economic Growth Depends On COVID 19 Vaccination

By Tosin Olatokunbo

The World Bank has predicted that Nigeria’s economy will grow by2.4 per cent in 2021. The Bretton Wood, United States of America, USA based financial institution, however, said that much of the growth will depend on how seriously Nigerians take the issue of COVID 19 vaccination.

The bank, had last week, approved a $400m credit to Nigeria to boost COVID-19 vaccination in the country.

In a statement the bank said “The government of Nigeria today received approval from the World Bank Board of Directors for a $400m credit in additional financing from the International Development Association to provide upfront financing for safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine acquisition and deployment within the country. This will be implemented as part of the COVID-19 Preparedness and Response Project.

“The additional funding is designed to ensure COVID-19 vaccination of 40 million Nigerians, increasing the rate of vaccination to up to 50 per cent.

“Building on the government’s plan to break the chain of local transmission of COVID-19 and limit the spread of the virus, the original COVID-19 response programme will be expanded to enable equitable access to purchase affordable COVID-19 vaccines for 18 per cent (40 million) of Nigeria’s population and support effective vaccine deployment to 50 per cent (110 million) of its citizens.”

The bank, in a report on Wednesday, titled ‘Climate change adaption and economic transformation in Sub-Saharan Africa’,  stated that much of the growth will be experienced in the service sectors of the economy.

According to the report “Within Africa, recovery is also multi-speed. Angola, Nigeria, and South Africa, the largest economies in the region, are expected to emerge from the 2020 recession, yet at different paces.

“Angola is expected to grow by 0.4 per cent in 2021, after five consecutive years of recession. The country is still battling to gain momentum, with elevated debt levels and weak performance of the oil industry. Nigeria is expected to grow by 2.4 per cent in 2021, supported by the service sector.”

The bank said Nigeria and South Africa are still trailing behind other Sub-Saharan Africa in terms of economic growth, adding however that Nigeria has made steady progress in the last two years, particularly in the non-oil sector which contributed greatly to the growth.

The report said “Excluding South Africa and Nigeria, the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa is rebounding faster, with a growth rate of 3.6 per cent in 2021.

“Nigeria’s economic growth shows little sign of speedy recovery from the 2020 recession. The economy grew five per cent in the second quarter, from 0.5 per cent growth in the first quarter. This was the third consecutive quarter of positive growth since the pandemic crisis.

“The main driver of the recovery is the non-oil sector, with a growth rate of 6.7 per cent compared with 0.8 per cent in the first quarter.

“The service sector recovered strongly after a disappointing first quarter, rising from -0.39 per cent to 9.27 per cent in the second quarter, while agriculture contracted from 2.28 in the first quarter to 1.30 per cent. Industrial activity also declined to -1.23 per cent in 2021Q2, down from 0.94 per cent in 2021Q1.

The bank had earlier in January projected a 1.8 per cent growth for the country in the outgoing year.