KPMG, a Global audit and tax advisory firm, has predicted that the unemployment rate in Nigeria would rise to 40.6% as compared to 2022’s 37.7%.
This was disclosed in organisation’s International Global Economic Outlook report – H1 2023 on Tuesday.
According to the world’s leading professional services firm, “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”.
Furthermore, KPMG’s report disclosed partly 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.
Also, 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.
Part of the report reads: “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.”
KPMG also forecasted a bounce back in major aspects of the economy including telecommunications, trade services, as well as the oil sector as a result of measures being taken to tackle security issues