Global economic growth improves -Report
Director-General of OPEC Fund for International Development, Mr. Suleiman Jasir Al-Herbish
The global economic growth during the first half of the year exceeded expectations, thus necessitating a marginal upward review of the remaining half of the year, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has said.
OPEC, in its Oil Market Report, August 2010, stated that the recovery was led by “a strong pick up in both manufacturing and international trade,” adding that “recovery in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, in contrast, was more modest and relied primarily on continued monetary and fiscal support, creating the appearance of a two-speed world.”
The report said the world gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2010 is estimated at 3.9 percent, marginally above July’s 3.8 percent. The 2011 forecast remains unchanged at 3.7 percent.
Meanwhile, Mansur Ahmed, director general of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), last weekend, said in spite of problems and poor infrastructure in Nigeria, the country’s economy has grown considerably.
Mr. Ahmed said the nation’s GDP at 7 percent was a positive indicator to growth. “I think it is fair to say that the Nigerian economy, in spite of all its problems and hurdles of poor infrastructure and so on, has still continued to grow positively. The growth of the economy measured by GDP in this quarter and for the rest of this year is in the region of 7 percent,” he said, adding that the figure is high compared to the average growth of the most successful economies.
However, an analyst said that the full reliance of the nation’s economy on oil revenue will do Nigerians no good. Oladimeji Akintayo of Resource Cap Limited, an investment advisory firm, said a country’s economy should be built across different sectors.
“In developed countries, revenues are generated from the processing of different commodities into finished products. By this, jobs will be created through manufacturing industries, distribution and marketing companies. Government can also get revenues from taxes because a larger part of the citizens are gainfully employed,” Mr. Akintayo said.
FORECAST
Despite the better-than-expected economic performance, OPEC said recovery in oil demand in the first half of the year remained relatively modest.
“Global oil demand rose by 0.7 millions of barrels per day (mb/d) and 1.3 mb/d during the first and second quarter, respectively, but from the extremely low base of the previous year. Looking to the second half, the pace of economic growth is projected to slow, not only in OECD, but also across most emerging and developing markets, indicating that oil demand growth will remain moderate,” it further said.
The report said global economic recovery is projected to continue through the whole of 2011, with an even distribution between the first and second half of the year. The bulk of the recovery in oil demand is expected to occur at approximately the same pace throughout the entire year. As in 2010, next year’s oil demand growth is expected to take place in the non-OECD, mainly China, India, the Middle East, and Latin America.
Source: 234next.com
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