End Of Recession: FG Lists $32bn Reserve, Oil Production, Electricity As Indicators

Federal Government said drop in headline inflation, increase in the nation’s Foreign Exchange Reserve and rise in crude oil production as well as improvement in public electricity generation the economy has witnessed collectively marked its rebound out of recession.

The government said the National grid capacity rose to 6,900 megawatts in September and National Electricity Regulations Commission (NERC) would this month issue directive on independent metering. The move will allow entities other than the 13 power distribution companies to sell and install meters to consumers and be paid directly, to consolidate the gains.

Quoting from the Presidency Newsletter, PODECast, the government said on Tuesday that inflation had fallen for eight consecutive months from February this year as Foreign Exchange Reserves have also leapt from $24bn a year ago to $32bn at the moment.

In what it called “Notes From A Rebounding Economy—Milestones and Measures,” the government noted in the statement that oil production had also witnessed “significant improvement from 2016, where it languished for the most part  below a million” barrels per day, to nearly two million barrels now.

It said over three million kids as well as 30,000 cooks across 20,000 public schools in 17 states are also benefitting from the school feeding program of the Federal Government as around 200,000 youths are equally benefiting from its NPower program, which recruits graduates as teachers, agric and health extension workers.

In the Agric sector, 120,000 direct and indirect jobs have been created through the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative (PFI), which has also produced 8.5 million bags of NPK Fertilizer under its wet season phase and is expected to have produced 10 million bags by December 2017.

“Federal Government Anchor Borrower’s program launched by President Muhammadu Buhari in November 2015 has benefitted 200,000 small scale farmers and attracted investment of N40bn from participating institutions,” the statement said.

The $1.8bn capital inflow for the second quarter of 2017, 36 percent gains in the Nigerian Stock Exchange All Share Index and the award of the N120bn contract for the construction of a bridge linking Bonny Island to Bodo in Rivers State are also among the accomplishment the government listed.

The Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG), located in Bony Island is partnering the government to deliver the bridge.