Nigeria's economy is expected to grow at a speedy 6.75% this year, driven by progress in agriculture, banking and oil, while high inflation rates should ease slightly, data showed yesterday.
Both will add to the reputation of Africa's top oil producer as a growing investment destination with a huge consumer market of 160million people. Demand for its sovereign debt, for example, has soared since JP Morgan added it to its emerging bond index last year.
The kidnapping by gunmen of a Briton, an Italian, a Greek and four Lebanese workers in Bauchi state on Sunday, however, underlined that there are risks to investment in the country.
The National Bureau of Statistics forecast this year's growth to be slightly faster than in 2012, at 6.75% compared with 6.61%.
It said gross domestic product should expand by an average of 7.2% next year, 6.9% in 2015 and 6.6% in 2016, adding that the projections assumed no change to monetary policy, stable fuel prices and a stable external environment.
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