The Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria said has said that Nigeria’s total net assets grew by 7.38 per cent in April 2018.
This annualised to 22.13per cent, when compared with the provisional benchmark of 18.15 per cent.
According to the monetary policy communiqué after its meeting last week, narrow money, contracted by 3.31 per cent annualised to -9.94 per cent, compared with the provisional benchmark of 8.04 per cent.
The apex bank said improvements in the domestic economy, attributable to the steady decline in inflation, rebound in oil prices and increase in production level, as well as the continued stability in the foreign exchange market.
According to the MPC, data from the National Bureau of Statistics, real Gross Domestic Product for fourth quarter 2017 was revised upwards from 1.92 per cent to 2.11 per cent, while a growth of 1.95 per cent was recorded in the first quarter of 2018, up from a contraction of 0.91 per cent in the corresponding period of 2017.
The bankers explained that the development was due to growth in the oil and non-oil sectors by 14.77 and 0.76 per cent, respectively, noting that the sustained positive outlook was based on the manufacturing, and non-manufacturing purchasing managers’ Indices, which rose for thirteenth and twelfth consecutive months to 56.9 and 57.5 index points in April 2018.
The committee welcomed this development, but believed that growth remained largely fragile and could benefit from further reforms and stimulus.
The macroeconomic environment that propelled the economy’s exit from recession has remained positive and is likely to continue in the near-term.
The bankers explained that the expectation was premised on speedy implementation of the 2018 budget, improved security, continued stability in the foreign exchange market as well as increase in crude oil production and prices.
