The Director-General, Budget Office of the Federation, Mr Ben Akabueze, on Wednesday explained why Nigerians were not feeling the real impact of the positive economic growth rate on their lives.
He gave the explanation while making a presentation at a roundtable on the 2019 budget.
The event which was organised by the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry was attended by top officials of the chamber led by its President, Adetokunbo Kayode.
Akabueze said that for Nigerians to effectively feel the impact of economy growth, the rate of Gross Domestic Product growth must be higher than the population growth.
He said while the rate of growth in the country’s population was about three per cent, it was currently higher than the GDP growth rate of the country.
The DG budget said the Federal Government understood the challenge, noting that was why the outlook for economic growth was put at about three per cent in the 2019 budget.
He said while the economy might have been out of recession, the government was implementing various measures to accelerate the trajectory for growth.
He said, “We are projecting a 3.01 per cent growth (in GDP). Often times, I hear Nigerians asking whether we can meet this growth.
“This is the minimum level of growth we should be aiming, going by the rate which our population was growing.
“If we are growing at anything below the rate the population is growing, it will not be felt and that is why a lot of people do not feel the economy is growing.
“It is not surprising that you don’t feel it, because last quarter, the economy grew by 1.8 per cent and population was growing significantly higher than that.
“So until we restore growth to seven per cent or preferably double digit, the vast majority of Nigerians are not going to feel any growth. So that’s the debate we should be having.”
Speaking on the 2019 budget which was presented to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari, he said that the budget was based on oil production of 2.3 million barrels per day, an oil benchmark price of $60 per barrel and exchange rate of N305 to a dollar.