Fitch Says Nigeria’s Growth to Slow Next Year as Oil Plunges

Growth in Nigeria and Angola, the only sub-Saharan African members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, will slow next year because of weaker crude prices, according to Fitch Ratings Ltd.

Fitch’s 2015 growth projection for Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy and oil producer, was revised down to 5.2 percent from 6.4 percent, Carmen Altenkirch and Richard Fox, London-based sovereign analysts at the ratings company, said in a statement today.

Nigeria, along with Angola and Gabon, will also suffer from worsening current account and fiscal balances, they said.

Policy makers in Nigeria, which derives 70 percent of government revenue from oil, have proposed spending cuts and devalued the naira last month amid declining foreign reserves.

The naira has depreciated 9.4 percent against dollar this quarter, the worst performance in Africa after Malawi’s kwacha. Angola’s currency, the kwanza, is heading for its 17th week of losses.