The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has kept Nigeria’s 2023 economic growth projection at 3.2 percent in its latest World Economic Outlook update. In the report “World Economic Outlook: A Rocky Recovery” (April 2023), the IMF raised its forecast for Nigeria’s 2024 growth to 3.0 percent, up from the 2.9 percent projected in the January update.
Globally, the IMF expects economic growth to decline from 3.4 percent in 2022 to 2.8 percent in 2023, before stabilising at 3.0 percent in 2024. Advanced economies are projected to experience a sharper slowdown, falling from 2.7 percent in 2022 to 1.3 percent in 2023. In a plausible alternative scenario involving additional financial‑sector stress, global growth could drop to about 2.5 percent in 2023, with advanced economies growing at less than 1 percent.
Headline inflation worldwide is forecast to ease from 8.7 percent in 2022 to 7.0 percent in 2023, driven by lower commodity prices, although core inflation is expected to decline more slowly. In most cases, inflation is unlikely to return to target levels before 2025.
The IMF also highlighted that the major forces shaping the world economy in 2022—particularly high debt levels—will continue to constrain fiscal policymakers’ ability to address new challenges in 2023. Ongoing uncertainty in the financial sector adds further risk to the global outlook.
On Tuesday, World Bank Group President David Malpass echoed concerns about slowing growth, predicting that global economic expansion will decelerate to 2 percent in 2023, down from 3.1 percent in 2022. He made the remark during his opening address at the Spring Meetings 2023 media call.
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