Nigeria’s unemployment rate projected to rise to 41%

Global audit and tax advisory firm, KPMG, has projected that Nigeria’s unemployment rate is expected to rise to 40.6% as compared to 2022’s 37.7%.

KPMG in its International Global Economic Outlook report – H1 2023 on Tuesday, detailed this forecast, noting that “unemployment is expected to continue to be a major challenge in 2023 due to the limited investment by the private sector, low industrialization, and slower than required economic growth and consequently the inability of the economy to absorb the 4-5 million new entrants into the Nigerian job market every year”.

The report also revealed in part that there are expectations for GDP to continue to grow at a relatively slow pace of 3% in 2023 owing to the slowdown in economic activity that typically characterizes periods of political transition in Nigeria.

KPMG further explained that the spillover from an expected slowdown in the global economy in 2023 and its trade and financial flow implications are expected to drag on GDP.

“Additionally, growth will be negatively affected by the Naira Redesign Policy introduced in Q4 2022 and Q1 2023 and its implications on key non-oil sectors like manufacturing, trade, accommodation and food services, transportation, and other services, further slowing down overall GDP growth in 2023,” the report added.

On the resurgence of major aspects of the economy, it forecasted that the telecommunications, trade services, as well as the oil sector, are expected to see recoveries, due to measures being taken to tackle security issues.