The Federal Government on Sunday projected that it expected Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita to rise to $2,300 by the end of this year.
The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investments, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, who gave the projection at the United States-Nigeria Investment Summit held in New York, noted that Nigeria’s GDP, which currently hovered around $500bn, was experiencing steady growth as the nation’s economy continues its strong performance trajectory, despite the COVID-19 pandemic’s disruptions.
Adebayo, who spoke on the efforts of the Buhari-led government to improve the nation’s investment climate, said that Nigeria was ready and open for business and investments.
He pointed out that the policy initiatives partly accounted for the growth in foreign investments in the first half of the year to $10.1bn, representing an increase of 100 per cent compared to the corresponding period in 2020.
The minister said: “As the majority of you are aware, Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa, with a steadily growing GDP of over $500bn. GDP per capita is expected to reach $2,300 by the end of 2021, this is over 84% higher than the African average.
“Despite the view that Nigeria’s economy has historically been driven by oil, recent growth has been driven primarily by the non-oil sectors, such as financial services, telecommunications, and entertainment.
“This shows that our diversification agenda is working, the oil sector now only contributes to approximate 14 per cent of GDP, Nigeria is open for business and the investment climate is improving. Last year was a difficult one for all economies but Nigeria is coming back strong”, Adebayo added.
The minister also disclosed that investors from Europe, China, Morocco, the UK and other countries were making strong investment commitments to the country.
