Nigeria

A mix of reforms and investments aimed to revive Nigeria’s agriculture industry are set to stimulate growth up and down the production chain and create new jobs that could number in the millions. However, vital to this plan will be efforts to encourage banks to boost lending to crop farmers and large-scale processors, as well as for the government to deliver on its promises.

After a major debt issue by a World Bank organisation, Nigeria’s bond market is expected to pick up momentum in 2013. Hunger for its emerging-market issues have pushed down yields, helping lower the cost of investment in Africa’s second-largest economy.

In spite of the “water no get enemy” mantra that is plastered across the blue and white pipelines of Lagos, Nigeria is in danger of falling short of targets it set more than a decade ago to provide clean water and sanitation to the majority of citizens. However, increased government funding for water management and calls to encourage private investment in treatment plants and distribution systems could help put targets back within reach.

A major policy rethink for Nigeria’s cement sector is set to steer the industry in a new direction aimed at building up an export market and improving competitiveness.

Although penetration rates continue to lag behind those of other formal financial services, Nigeria’s insurance sector offers plenty of room for expansion over the coming years. Even so, there are a number of factors that could hamper growth and restrict earnings.

President Goodluck Jonathan and his economic team began 2012 with a renewed focus on their Agenda for National Transformation (ANT), targeting wholesale reform across a range of economic sectors.