LCCI Director-General, Chinyere Almona
Lagos Chamber of Commerce forecasts drop in GDP contribution by manufacturing sector in 2023
Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has predicted a drop in the contribution of the manufacturing sector in the country to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by as much as 8.2 per cent from the figure recorded in the third quarter of 2022, unless the Government intervenes.
In its New Year statement on the economy signed by its Director-General, Chinyere Almona, the chamber called on the government to save manufacturing from decline by providing financial support and improving the operating environment.
Almona stated that factors that may continue to drive the major economic indicators are rising inflation, tight monetary policies, an unstable currency, foreign exchange scarcity and debt burden.
The Lagos chamber head also noted that currency management, food supply disruptions, exchange rate volatility, and election spending would also influence the economy in 2023.
“The Central Bank of Nigeria, in response to the spiralling inflation, deployed a tightening monetary policy, which increased the benchmark interest rate from 11.5 percent in January to 16.5% in November 2022,” she noted in the statement.
The chamber projected that the CBN may further review the interest rate upward during its Monetary Policy Committee meeting in January to 17 percent.
