Manufacturers’ confidence in the economy and government policies recorded the first improvement in six quarters in the first quarter of the year, Q1’24.

Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) disclosed this in its MAN CEO’s Confidence Index Report (MCCI) for Q1’24 released yesterday.

MCCI is an index constructed to measure changes in quarterly pulse of CEOs of manufacturing concerns in relation to changes in government policies and movement in macroeconomic indicators.

In his comment, Director General of MAN, Segun Ajayi-Kadir, said: “The report that we are presenting today confirms a moderate improvement in the Aggregate Index Score (AIS) evidenced by the meagre increase from 51.8 points to 53.5 points for the first time in the last six quarters. Notwithstanding, this performance shows that the manufacturing sector is set on the path of restoration and recovery, at least to the level recorded in Q3 2022 with the hope of improvement in the next quarter.

“This is further buttressed by mild performance recorded at the sectoral and zonal levels as well as the positive projections of confidence indices for the next quarter, even though emerging policies are pointing to the contrary and may imperil this positivity.

“Clearly, this performance is attributable to the undying resilience of manufacturers, the reasonable gains recorded by the Naira in the latter part of the first quarter and the expectation of reasonable reduction in diesel price. Others include the hope that the presidential intervention funds for the manufacturing sector will be disbursed seamlessly, and the policy direction of the Government will become clearer.”

Ajayi-Kadir added that being the most sustainable driver of steady economic growth, inflow of foreign exchange and enduring shared prosperity, the government should intentionally prioritize the manufacturing sector by providing the required policy support and incentives.