DEVALUATION WILL PUSH UP INFLATION, SLOW GROWTH - WORLD BANK

The recent devaluation of the naira by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will push up inflation and slow growth in 2015, according to the World Bank.

The bank in its 2015 Global Economic Prospect, released further said with continued expansion of non -oil sectors, particularly the services sector which now accounts for more than 50 percent of GDP as well as agriculture and manufacturing, growth is expected to pick up again in 2016 and beyond.
The report further forecast the Nigerian Economy at 5.5 percent down from 6.3 percent last year.
On the Global forecast, World Bank, citing stagnation in Europe and Japan and a slowdown in China, downgraded its forecast for the global economy this year. It also reported that world economic growth came in below expectations in 2014.
After growing by an estimated 2.6 percent in 2014, the global economy is projected to expand by 3 percent this year, 3.3 percent in 2016 and 3.2 percent in 2017 [1], predicts the Bank’s twice-yearly flagship. Developing countries grew by 4.4 percent in 2014 and are expected to edge up to 4.8 percent in 2015, strengthening to 5.3 and 5.4 percent in 2016 and 2017, respectively.
On falling of oil prices, the bank said in 2014, relevant events include geopolitical conflicts in some oil producing regions, OPEC announcements, and the appreciation of the U.S. dollar, dictated the price of the commodity. “Long term developments in supply and demand have also played important roles in driving the recent decline in oil prices.”
“Trends in supply and demand. Recent developments in global oil markets have occurred against a long term trend of greater than anticipated supply and lessthan anticipated demand. Since 2011, U.S. shale oil production has persistently surprised on the upside, by some 0.9 million barrels per day (mb/d, about 1 percent of global supply) in 2014.