An economist and Chief Executive Officer of the Financial Derivatives Company Limited (FDC), Bismarck Rewane has said that Nigeria’s life expectancy is the fourth global lowest at 55.75%.
He stated this during an interview on ChannelsTV’s end-of-year programme captioned “Year 2021: Battles, Resilience And The New Normal”, on Friday.
According to the economist, Ghanaians live about six to seven years longer than their Nigerian counterparts, adding that unemployment statistics rose to 33 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2021, higher than the 27.10 per cent in the Q2 of 2021.
“We have had two recessions in five years,” said Rewane. “Life expectancy is 55.75 per cent, the fourth-lowest in the world.
“In other words, if you are a Ghanaian, you are going to live about six or seven years longer than your Nigerian counterpart. Unemployment is at 33 per cent, the misery index is at 48.7 per cent.”
On the Nigerian currency, Rewane said the naira has depreciated as against the U.S. dollar over time, just as the nation’s income per capita dropped by three per cent to $2,100.
He explained that the naira lost 55 per cent of its value in over three years from N363 to a dollar to N566 to a dollar in the parallel market.
On recession, the economist stated that Africa’s largest economy slipped into recession twice in five years, with the misery index rising to 48.7 per cent.
“The GDP numbers are positive, the total factor productivity is also positive,” he added. “Inflation has gone down from 18 per cent to 15 per cent; the gross external reserves are up by 14 per cent to $40 billion. The price of oil is $78 – 81 per cent above the previous year and oil drives the economy.
“That means that you and I and everybody should be feeling better. The budget expenditure for 2022 which was sent today (Friday) is 20.6 per cent higher than that of 2021. Now we are commissioning the largest petrochemical fertiliser and refinery project in the world sometime in 2022.”
