2019 election didn’t affect economic stability – FG

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) said Monday that it was excited that the conduct of the 2019 elections did not affect the nation’s economic stability as highlighted in a report released by the National Bureau Statistics (NBS) on the economic growth of 2.01% in the first quarter of 2019.

Addressing State House correspondents at the end of the six hours extraordinary Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Minister of Budget and National Planning Mr Udoma Udo Udoma Sa’id the economic indicators were encouraging.

He said despite the elections, there are improvements in the economic indicators such as the inflation rate, which tends to have high figures during an election period.

“The council is also pleased to note that there are improvements in other economic indicators such as the inflation rate, which tend to have high inflation during an election period, but it has been stable. Our external reserves and our trade balance has also remained healthy over the period which our exchange rate to the dollar has also been stable.

“So, notwithstanding the elections, there has been stability. The council believes that the dividend arising from the peaceful elections  and the re-elections of President Muhammadu Buhari will lead to a further boost in economic growth. The nation should therefore expect faster growth rate as the incoming cabinet continues to intensify work on the implementation of the economic recovery and growth plan.”

“This growth reflects the strongest first quarter performance in GDP since 2015. The first quarter is always the weakest in terms of growth. The federal executive council is most encouraged by the fact that growth continues to be driven by the non-oil sector which affects most of our population. Also agriculture grew by 3.17% and this represents the strongest growth in agriculture since the fourth quarter in 2017,” he said.