The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has again, projected that the Information Communication Technology (ICT) and other sectors including agriculture, manufacturing, transportation and trade would be the major drivers of the economy in 2023.
In a statement titled “LCCI New Year statement on the economy 2023”, LCCI predicted growth saying “With Nigeria having the third largest subscriber base in Africa (after South Africa and Egypt), the telecoms sub-sector is expected to record growth above the 10.1 per cent achieved in Q3 2022 driven by the growing deployment of Payment Service Banks by the telcos, increase in subscribers using more telcos’ services, and the expected innovation coming with the launch of the 5G technology. The government needs to be more sensitive to the regulation of the ICT sector to promote growth and support private sector operations,” the statement read in part.
It however noted that the base factors that may continue to drive the major economic indicators are the rising inflation rate; tight monetary policies; an unstable currency; foreign exchange scarcity; debt burden; currency management; food supply disruptions; exchange rate volatility and election spending.
On outlook, LCCI averred that “The Nigerian economy in 2022 recorded growth in the first three quarters but slowed down from 3.54 per cent in Q2 to 2.25 per cent in Q3. We expect to have growth reported for the last quarter of 2022. The slowdown was driven by a decline in aggregate demand in the face of inflation spikes, commodities’ supply chain disruption, high energy costs, and forex scarcity.”
