Supercar sellers hit by economic slow-down in Nigeria

Photo Credit

Nigeria’s wealthy elite would be hard pushed to find a clear road in this traffic-clogged city that would allow them to floor the pedal and get anywhere near approaching top speed.

But now sales of luxury sports cars have slumped as Africa’s biggest economy and largest oil producer is battered by the fall in global crude prices.

Porsche showroom in Lagos is full of top-of-the-end-models selling from $100,000 (£70,000) and upwards.

In the good times, high-spending Nigerians would roll into the garage with fat wallets and drive out in a Porsche – now the showroom is deserted.

The managing director, Parvin Singh, told me that sales were down 50% last year compared to 2014. He blames the crash on the crude oil crisis.

While gas and oil sales only account for around 15% of the country’s GDP – “Nigeria is not Saudi Arabia,” as one analyst put it to me – the industry has a disproportionate effect on the economy as a whole.

Oil revenues account for 75-80% percent of the government’s budget and if it does not have cash, it cools overall spending.

“The government is Nigeria’s biggest spender,” says Mr Singh. “When the government stops spending, it has a cascading effect on the corporate sector.”