Forecasts by the International Monetary Fund, IMF, has shown that Nigerians will see their real income per head plunge every year until at least 2023, a potentially excruciating squeeze for a country with per capita Gross Domestic Product, GDP, of just $1,994.
If this happen, Africa’s largest economy, will suffer at least eight straight years of declining income per capita
“If the IMF is right that would obviously be awful, a very depressing result,” said John Ashbourne, Africa economist at Capital Economics, a consultancy.
“They have a very rapidly growing population. If they are not able to diversify their economy faster than they have before, a huge number of these people will end up being trapped either in agriculture or low-skilled service jobs.”
The IMF Fund is now calling for urgent action to stem falling living standards and to tackle poverty now, rather than later.
