Nigeria records more than 76,000 decline in SMEs caused by difficult business environment
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria reduced 45 per cent between 2000 and 2022, underscoring a difficult business landscape strewn with a lack of infrastructure, stifling policies, over-taxation, and corruption fostered by federal and state governments that rip citizens off and provide little in return.
Newly released 2023 Social Statistics Report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows the number of individuals operating as small-scale industrialists across various economic sectors declined from 246,200 in 2020 to 170,098 in 2022 – a reduction of 76,102 or 45 per cent.
NBS data shows the 246,200 SMEs in 2020 decreased to 213,402 in 2021 and further dropped to 170,098 in 2022.
The NBS did not provide reasons for the decline but it is public knowledge that several factors contributed to it.
The factors include economic instability, policy and regulatory challenges, lack of access to finance, infrastructure deficiencies, corruption, and COVID-19.
They could also be due to SMEs falling even further into micro businesses or the more unlikely scenario of them growing into large scale industries.
__________________________________________________________________
Related articles:
Economic growth impossible with CBN bias against real sector, MAN laments
Nigeria claims 3.46% GDP growth without positive impact on citizens
CPPE cautions, businesses can’t survive without single-digit interest rate
Tinubu rents crowd to rally for him in Abuja, despite growing hunger
__________________________________________________________________
