The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Lamido Sanusi, has projected that the Nigerian economy will be bigger than that of South African by 2012. Sanusi said at the policy dialogue of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group on Friday in Lagos that his projections were based on the growth of the gross domestic products (GDP) of the two countries. The governor, who was visibly taken aback by the reaction of the audience, said: “I am the CBN governor, people should believe me and show some respect”.

On the larger economy, Sanusi described as unfortunate the national economic growth without the manufacturing sector. He said that while the CBN remained disposed to a shift in lending to the manufacturing sector, “we will not support policies that will compel commercial banks to be exposed to the challenges facing manufacturing sector
The manufacturing sector is seriously challenged by the absence of power, tariff regime and policy that encourages dumping of foreign goods in Nigeria,” he said. Sanusi, who singled out the nation’s textile industry as the most challenged, said that the collapse of that sector exposed banks to huge non-performing loans.