Nigeria has ranked 110th in the recent Best Countries For Business chart released by Forbes.
According to the report, the United Kingdom tops the Best Countries for Business Chart with Sweden following at second place.
Hong Kong placed third with Netherlands and New Zealand trailing at fourth and fifth respectively.
Nigeria is placed at a distant 110th ahead of Uganda 112th and Algeria 114th.
See the list showing Nigeria’s place below:
See the full list here.
The report shows that Nigeria, with a population of 203.5 million, has GDP $376 billion as of December 2018.
The GDP growth is 0.8%, while the GDP per capita is $2,000.
The trade balance/GDP is 2.8%, public debt/GDP – 22%, unemployment – 16.5%, and inflation placed at 16.5%.
Nigeria is Sub Saharan Africa’s largest economy and relies heavily on oil as its main source of foreign exchange earnings and government revenues.
Following the 2008-09 global financial crises, the banking sector was effectively recapitalized and regulation enhanced.
Since then, Nigeria’s economic growth has been driven by growth in agriculture, telecommunications, and services.
Economic diversification and strong growth have not translated into a significant decline in poverty levels; over 62% of Nigeria’s over 180 million people still live in extreme poverty.
Despite its strong fundamentals, oil-rich Nigeria has been hobbled by inadequate power supply, lack of infrastructure, delays in the passage of legislative reforms, an inefficient property registration system, restrictive trade policies, an inconsistent regulatory environment, a slow and ineffective judicial system, unreliable dispute resolution mechanisms, insecurity, and pervasive corruption.
Regulatory constraints and security risks have limited new investment in oil and natural gas, and Nigeria’s oil production had been contracting every year since 2012 until a slight rebound in 2017.
President Buhari, elected in March 2015, has established a cabinet of economic ministers that includes several technocrats, and he has announced plans to increase transparency, diversify the economy away from oil, and improve fiscal management, but has taken a primarily protectionist approach that favors domestic producers at the expense of consumers.
President BUHARI ran on an anti-corruption platform, and has made some headway in alleviating corruption, such as implementation of a Treasury Single Account that allows the government to better manage its resources and a more transparent government payroll and personnel system that eliminated duplicate and “ghost workers.”
The government also is working to develop stronger public-private partnerships for roads, agriculture, and power.
Nigeria entered recession in 2016 as a result of lower oil prices and production, exacerbated by militant attacks on oil and gas infrastructure in the Niger Delta region, coupled with detrimental economic policies, including foreign exchange restrictions.
GDP growth turned positive in 2017 as oil prices recovered and output stabilized.
