ECOWAS Commission President, Mr. Marcel de Souza, has said the recession being experienced in Nigeria has a negative impact on the sub-region’s overall economic performance.
De Souza said this while presenting the Community Status Report at the ongoing Second Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament in Abuja on Tuesday.
Represented by the commission’s Vice President, Mr Edward Singhateh, he said the sub-region’s Gross Domestic Product had declined to three per cent in 2016 from 5.6 per cent in 2013.
Nigeria’s economy represents two thirds of the sub-region’s GDP.
Currently, Nigeria’s GDP had dropped to 2.3 per cent in 2016 from 5.4 per cent in 2013, one of the lowest in the sub-region.
Another West African nation currently disturbed by technical recession is Gambia whose growth has reduced from 4.8 per cent to 2.3 per cent since 2013.
Liberia and Cape Verde, he said, had a growth rate of 2.5 and 2.9 per cent respectively from 8.1 and one per cent respectively.
Today, Cote d’Ivoire boosts of highest growth rate was from 9.3 per cent in 2013 to 9.8 per cent in 2016. Other member states experienced a growth rate of between 4.5 per cent and 6.6 per cent in 2016 against 3.3 per cent to 13 percent in 2013.
