Insufficient electricity, unfavourable economy are among challenges hindering companies –CBN

Stakeholders, who were surveyed in the latest business expectations data, as published by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), highlighted insufficient electricity supply and unfavourable economic realities as some of the most serious challenges hindering their business operations in the country.

Other challenges, according to the respondents, included high interest rate, unclear economic laws, inadequate access to credit, unfavourable political climate, increasing competition, and lower demand.

Interestingly, despite the above-highlighted challenges, the 1050 businesses that participated in the survey expressed optimism in terms of Nigeria’s business outlook.

According to the report, their overall confidence index stood at 26.6 index points and, which is indicative of optimism in the state of Nigeria’s macroeconomy last month. In the same vein, the respondents also showed high confidence in the economy for March, with 58.1 index points.

The CBN business expectation data, which was for the month of February, went further to highlight responses by businesses regarding other major indicators. For instance, in terms of their expectations on exchange rate, businesses expect the naira to appreciate in the coming months.

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They also expected that not only will borrowing rates increase in February, but that such would be the case throughout the course of 2020.

Furthermore, the respondents noted that they expect Nigeria’s inflation rate to stand at 11.6% and 11.8% in the next six months and in the next twelve months, respectively. Interestingly, the respondents expressed satisfaction with the way the government is managing inflation.

“Respondent firms expressed satisfaction with the management of inflation by the Government, with a positive net satisfaction index of 2.4 in February 2020. The net satisfaction index is the proportion of satisfied less the proportion of dissatisfied respondents.”

Finally, the respondents were optimistic in terms of Nigeria’s economic growth. They gave an economic growth index rate of 43.3 for the month of February, as well as a growth index rate of 49.5 points for the next six months as well as the next twelve months.

You may read the full report, which was compiled by the CBN’s Statistics Department, by clicking here.