President Buhari and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele, have negatively impacted the Nigerian economy to the tune of N15 trillion, according to former Statistician General of the Federation and ex-boss of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Dr Yemi Kale.
The Buhari administration’s shambolic Naira redesign policy and the hasty withdrawal of old banknotes, have led to severe hardship across Nigeria, sparked protests and crippled businesses.
Kale says the cash shortage has massively shrunk Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Q1 2023.
“I am estimating a reduction in Q1 2023 nominal GDP by between N10-15 trillion due to challenges sourcing cash in Q1 2023,” the statistician shared in a series of tweets, Tuesday.
“This is because about 40% of Nigeria’s N198tn GDP in 2022 is informal of which about 90% is cash based. Further 30% of formal sector GDP is cash based. This means N106.9tn of total GDP is cash based.
“Of the 46 economic activities, agriculture, some manufacturing activities (especially food & beverage, textiles, apparels), trade, arts entertainment & recreation, accommodation & food services, road and water transport and other services expected to be the most affected.
“There is nothing new or wrong about currency redesign or cashless policy if done for the right reasons and at the right time. But every policy will have pros and cons and will benefit some but not others. There is no policy that won’t affect someone negatively. Or that won’t have costs,” he added.
