Zero per cent growth rate in manufacturing sector worrisome—DG LCCI
The Director-General of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Mr. Muda Yusuf, and other industry players, who reviewed the executive summary of the 2017 economic review released by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, have confirmed that the manufacturing sector is still in recovery trouble.
According to the executive summary of the 2017 economic review released by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), the manufacturing sector output grew by 0.14 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2017 up from -2.54 per cent recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2016.
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In his remarks, LCCI boss averred that “What this shows is that the manufacturing sector is still grappling with the same challenges that it has been grappling with for years.
“If anything, there are new problems; the same capital problem is still there, along with the logistics problems, bad port access roads and poor means of transportation.”
He made it clear that beyond rhetoric, many manufacturing entities have not recovered from the currency depreciation of the past two years which is yet to come up, thus keeping operational expenses beyond control.
Continuing, Yusuf noted that “Import duty was not adjusted to accommodate the depreciation so, this pushed up the cost of their inputs as well,” noting that “Prices of their products went up and demand dropped, creating room for all kinds of products to come in. Government has also not done enough to increase local patronage.”
