Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (GTBank) has listed five financial goals its customers and followers must “focus on and stick with” in the New Year.
The bank which posted this on its Twitter handle, stressed that the New Year gives “us a chance to begin afresh which means this is the perfect time to get your finances in order. Are you on track to achieve your goals this year?”
First, it urged its customers and followers on the social media platform to set a personal savings goal for the year.
“Look at how much you are making, what your expenses are, and determine how much you could realistically save each month,” it added.
Secondly, the bank urged them to make “a budget you will be motivated to stick to,” and thirdly to “have a solid emergency fund.”
“This should be the first savings goal on your list. It can take away a lot of the money worries that you have, since you know that you will always have a reserve if you get into a tight spot.”
Fourthly, the bank said there was need to: “Have a solid emergency fund. This should be the first savings goal on your list. It can take away a lot of the money worries that you have, since you know that you will always have a reserve if you get into a tight spot.”
Finally, it added: “Create multiple source of incomes. Even if you love your job, creating multiple income streams is a form of income insurance which means that you’re not dependent on a single source of income ever!”
Following the country’s exit from the economic recession in 2017, the stability in the foreign exchange (forex) market, decelerating inflation, bouyant oil prices and stable production from the oil-rich Niger Delta, economic analysts and bank chief executives have predicted brighter economic prospects and a jump in bank lending in 2018.
The bank executives and economic analysts that spoke with THISDAY expressed optimism that the positive momentum observed in the economy last year, would continue this year, but cautioned that as politics picks up in the second half of the year, this could lead to economic uncertainty as investors sit on the fence.
After snapping five consecutive quarters of contraction, the Nigerian economy grew by 0.72 per cent in the second quarter of 2017 and doubled its output to 1.4 per cent in the third quarter of the year.
The country’s external reserves also grew by $13.73 billion in 2017, from $26.09 billion as of January 3 to $38.731 by December 28.
The country’s growing reserves strengthen the capacity of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to intervene in the foreign exchange market and end the forex shortages in the economy.
The CBN, through the creation of the investors’ and exporters’ window and its aggressive interventions, further led to the streghthening of the naira on the parallel market and eventual convergence of the I&E rate with the rate on the streets.
With improved forex availability, the Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to 55.9 index points by November 2017 – an expansion of 7.7 points from the 48.2 index points recorded last January.
The rate of inflation also maintained a downward trajectory last year due to the gradual recovery of the Nigerian economy, as it declined to 15.90 per cent in November, from a peak of 18.72 per cent recorded in January 2017.
