The World Bank has cut Nigeria’s economic growth forecast for 2022, while painting a gloomy picture of the country’s finances.
In its biannual Africa’s Pulse report released on Tuesday, the World Bank predicted that Nigeria’s economy will grow at 3.3% down from 3.8%, which it earlier forecasted.
It also revealed that Africa’s most populous nation will see its debt service-to-revenue ratio surge to 102.3%.
“Public debt in Nigeria is a concern,” the World Bank said in the report. “The combination of low production in the oil industry and unsustainable subsidies is one of the main obstacles to attaining debt sustainability.”
Unlike Nigeria, the World Bank says fellow oil-producing country, Angola’s public debt will decline to 61.9% of gross domestic product this year from 85.7% in 2021.
It also said Angola will expand 3.1% this year from 0.8% in 2021, thanks to rising oil prices.
The World Bank also expects the Sub-Saharan African region’s economic growth to slow to 3.3% in 2022 from 4.1% last year.