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GDP growth pointer to Nigeria’s resilience -Olawepo-Hashim - PUNCH
BY Sunday Aborisade
A former presidential candidate of the Peoples Trust in the 2019 elections, Mr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has described the latest growth figures released by the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics as cheery news.
He said the 5 per cent growth in Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product was worth celebrating.
The All Progressives Congress chieftain said this in a statement titled, “GDP Growth, a pointer to Nigeria’s resilience – Olawepo-Hashim.”
He said, “In Q2 2021, GDP growth data released by the NBS and widely published on August 21 was cheering news to most economic handlers in government. It should be.
“Unlike when there is news of economic contraction, which immediately always impacts the market, panic in the stock exchange, currency markets and domestic price levels, the news about GDP growth takes time to trickle down positively.”
Olawepo-Hashim said the growth in GDP does not automatically lead to fall in prices of goods and services for the ordinary man and woman to see and feel.
He said, “For economic watchers; this underscores the resilience of Nigeria’s economy.
“The important item for me is that despite relatively high oil prices, it is the non-oil sector that rises more, as the oil sector’s contribution to GDP fell by 1.83 per cent points.”
