Adebayo Obajemu
Analysts Data Services Resources (ADSR) , a leading economic consulting, in highly insightful end of the year webinar with a theme: 2023 in Perspective last week took a hard look at the state of the economy in a review of economic and sociopolitical events and trends in the outgoing year.
Panelists at the event discussed outlook of what to expect in 2023 taking into consideration, the extant economic variables which are not encouraging. The presentations gave background to the theme, while the discussions and questions and answers from participants gave insights to the subject matter.
The communique issued at the end of the webinar served as reference point for discussions on the Nigerian economy as it gave a summary of the major issues explored in the webinar.
The background discussion which set the template for the event was given by the managing director and chief economist of ADSR, Dr.Afolabi Olowookere, who x-rayed some of the dominant developments of the year.
These include rising inflation, economic growth, Russian- Ukraine war, commodities prices, floods impact on commodities supply, increased poverty, unemployment, weakening foreign exchange differential, unsustainable debts and financing, increased calls for fuel subsidy removal, Naira redesign and cash withdrawal policy as well as election campaign kick-off.
The webinar proffered intelligent and informed way forward to the various economic challenges facing the nation.
The significance of the discussions was that the panelists were able to situate some of the challenges within the context of international economic dire straits such as the war between Russia and Ukraine and its disrupting implications for global economy.
The takeaway from it all is for the Nigerian policy makers to consider some of suggestions as we enter 2023, an election year.
