Coronation Merchant Bank Holds 4th Edition Of Its Interactive Session Series

Nigeria’s leading financial institution, Coronation Merchant Bank, has held the 4th edition of its Interactive Session Series themed “Nigeria’s Economic Landscape – a blend of optimism and uncertainty”.

The event which held virtually, featured expert speakers such as Dr. Biodun Adedipe, Founder and Chief Consultant, Adedipe Associates; Dr. Andrew S. Nevin, Advisory Partner/Chief Economist at PwC Nigeria; Chinwe Egwim, Chief Economist at Coronation Merchant Bank and Prof. Joseph Nnanna, Chief Economist at the Development Bank of Nigeria.

Delivering her macroeconomic presentation, Chinwe Egwim said “Looking ahead, on the back of specific factors we expect upward pressure on prices. Overall, consumption patterns are relatively better and are almost mirroring pre-pandemic levels. However, we must note that consumer pockets are still steadily being rebuilt.”

Also giving his economic prediction for the year, Andrew S. Nevin expressed his optimism for 2022, saying, “We have a bigger economy and more economic activities than we think. The official number from NBS is about N20trn in the fourth quarter which understates the economy perhaps as much as 25%. We also have a smaller population than estimated, so we are actually richer than we think.”

Speaking further on the economic landscape, Dr. Biodun Adedipe noted that, “We’ve seen the pattern in the last 10 years of non-oil sectors accounting for between 77% and 82% in terms of contribution to our GDP, while the oil sector has repeatedly accounted for less than 10%.  It is now obvious that what drives the economy is the non-oil sector and that is where we will have to pay a lot of attention. Looking at this in the context of where we are, I see an economy that will grow very strongly, and I expect growth to be sustained this year.”

Speaking during the panel discussion, Prof. Joseph Nnanna added that, “Taking a look at the diversification strategy we need as a country to restructure the economy, moving from the factors of production within and across different sectors towards high productivity so that diversification can be achieved through encouraging private investments, foreign investments, improving infrastructure and so on.”

In his welcome remarks, Banjo Adegbohungbe, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Coronation Merchant Bank, stated that “There are a number of factors, both positive and negative that are expected to influence the macroeconomic landscape in 2022. The lessons learnt on resilience as Nigeria embarked on a recovery path in 2021 will be critical in shaping the business and macroeconomic environment this year.”

He further stated that the Bank will continue to hold sessions on topical issues relevant to the markets and the economy.

This webinar comes on the heels of the Bank’s recent Economic report titled Blend of Optimism and Uncertainty co-authored by Chinwe Egwim.