The Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has observed that Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate on average has been steadily declining since 2014, signalling a downturn in the economic well-being of the average Nigerian.
Okonjo-Iweala, speaking at the annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) on Sunday, noted that the country’s economic fortunes experienced a reversal following the decade between 2000 and 2014, during which the average GDP growth rate was approximately 3.8%.
According to the Director-General of the WTO, this consistent GDP growth outpaced the nation’s population growth, which was only around 2.6% annually.
However, she pointed out that since 2014, the situation has reversed, with GDP showing a negative growth rate of 0.9%, as the government has been unable to sustain the positive growth achieved by previous administrations.
