Despite Nigeria’s tough operating business environment, the finance and insurance sectors gained 26 per cent Year-on-Year in real Gross Domestic Product growth in the first quarter 2023.
Analysts have expressed that online transactions in the period under review increased significantly amid the Central Bank of Nigeria currency swap policy. They stressed that increase impacted positively on finance and insurance contributions to real GDP outcome in the period. The policy deepened online transactions in the period as Nigeria Inter-bank Settlement System reported 298 per cent increase in e-payment transactions, which reached N135 trillion in Q1 2023, up from N34.04 trillion recorded in Q1 2022, reflecting the impact of cash scarcity on the payment culture of Nigerians.
Speaking with THISDAY, Managing Director/Chief Economist at Analysts Data Service and Resources Limited, Dr. Afolabi Olowookere, attributed the growth in finance and insurance to the increased online transactions during the period. According to NBS report, “The finance and Insurance Sector consists of the two subsectors, Financial Institutions and Insurance, in which the former accounted for 91.75per cent and the latter 8.25 per cent of the sector respectively in real terms in Q1 2023.
A member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the CBN, Festus Adenikinju, who is from the Department of Economics, University of Ibadan, said: “I fear that the staff output growth forecast of 2.64 per cent in Q1 2023 may not be realised because of the problems associated with the implementation of the currency redesign policy and the fuel queues in parts of the country for January and February 2023.
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