The outlook for Nigeria’s manufacturing sector in the fourth quarter of 2024 looks bleak, according to the Manufacturing Association of Nigeria.
The Director General of MAN, Segun Ajayi-Kadir, has expressed concerns about how current economic realities presented no relief in sight for manufacturers who had been struggling with rising costs of production and decreased sales, in a conversation with The PUNCH.
Ajayi-Kadir painted a grim picture for Q4, going by the sector’s performance in the third quarter, saying, “Earlier in the year, we imagined that the second half would be better… But rather than experience an upswing, we have continued to have a depression.”
He identified rising interest rates, high diesel prices, and electricity tariff hikes as major obstacles for the manufacturing sector, contributing 8.46 per cent to the real gross domestic product growth in Q2 2024.
The sector’s contribution to real GDP growth dropped from 8.62 per cent in Q2 2023 and was weaker than its 9.98 per cent contribution in Q1 2024.
“The interest rate has continued to be increased, the exchange rate didn’t improve, and we had an increase in electricity tariff,” Ajayi-Kadir said, emphasising that those factors had combined to depress the sector’s growth.
