Vice President  Namadi Sambo


Ernst & Young’s quarterly Rapid-Growth Markets (RGMs) forecast have said both the Nigerian and Ghanaian markets are among the three fastest growing markets in the continent.

The report made available to THISDAY Tuesday, argued that economic expansion in 25 leading RGMs recorded sharp decline since this year.
It also stated that RGMs, particularly in Asia, have the necessary tools available to ease both fiscal and monetary policy needed to create growth opportunities.

The report, however, stated that despite the slowdown in growth, RGMs would “weather the Eurozone crisis and will remain the engines of global growth.”

“GDP is forecast to expand by 4.9 per cent this year in stark contrast to the 0.6 per cent contraction at best, that is expected in the Eurozone. Output in the RGMs is expected to continue to pick up by 6 per cent in 2013 and 6.5 per cent in 2014

However, there is a mixed picture emerging across the world. Although Asia is likely to lead the way, Africa remains resilient overall, with Ghana and Nigeria among the 3 fastest-growing of the RGMs this year.

However, Central and Eastern Europe and Latin America are hindered by the slow growth in their key export markets of the Eurozone and United States respectively,” it added.

On his part, Senior Economic Adviser to Ernst & Young’s RGM Forecast, Carl Astorri,  explained: “The RGMs are well placed to weather the major risks facing the global economy at the present time, given that they have the space to relax fiscal and monetary policy. This has already happened in some RGMs including in all of the BRICs. It is likely that there will be further easing of monetary policy in the months ahead, particularly if the global economy deteriorates further.”

Similarly, Co-leader of the Emerging Markets Centre at Ernst & Young, Alexis Karklins-Marchay, stated that soaring domestic demand in economies starved, for some time, of investment and consumption would offer businesses new markets for goods and services in the years ahead.

“The growth in household incomes will lead to increased consumer spending. In 2011, two-thirds of consumer spending across the world came from the advanced economies, with the remaining third coming from the emerging markets. However, in 25 years time emerging Asia alone will have overtaken the advanced economies as the key source of consumer spending, responsible for almost 40 per cent,” the report added.