For many years Nigeria has had a strong and vibrant middle-class that has helped the country grow and pushed economic development. But that same middle class is struggling now, with several factors making it difficult for more Nigerians to join the middle class and those same factors pushing others out of that level. A recent report by SBM Intelligence has highlighted the crucial role the middle class plays and shares recommendations on what needs to be done to reverse the trend. The middle class is a socio-economic stratum that falls between the working class and the upper class.
A strong and prosperous middle class is crucial for any successful economy and cohesive society. The middle class sustains consumption, drives much of the investment in education, health and housing and it plays a key role in supporting social protection systems through its tax contributions. Business Edge opens on Monday with a deep dive into the shrinking Nigerian middle class. Cheta Nwanze, Partner at SBM Intelligence joins Tolulope Adeleru-Balogun.
Also on the show is the unprecedented happening of Russia going into default as a result of the country being unable to meet up with its debt obligations. Russia is set for its first default in a hundred years as bondholders some bondholders said they had not received overdue interest on Monday following the expiry of a key payment deadline a day earlier. Russia has struggled to keep up payments on $40 billion (€37 billion) of outstanding bonds since its invasion of Ukraine on February 24th, as sweeping sanctions have effectively cut the country off from the global financial system and rendered its assets untouchable to many investors. The Kremlin has repeatedly said there are no grounds for Russia to default but it is unable to send money to bondholders because of sanctions, accusing the West of trying to drive it into an artificial default. The guest is Ifeanyi Udeh, analyst at Nairametrics Financial Advisory Services.
Watch the full episode of Business Edge, including International Business News, African Business Headlines and Money Monday, above