Despite govt’s assurances, Nigerian economy still in recession

The Nigerian economy contracted by – 0. 52 per cent in the first quarter of this year, the Gross Domestic Product, GDP, growth rate report released by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, has shown. 

The report, released on Tuesday, shows that with the economy maintaining a negative growth rate of -0.52 per cent, the nation is still in recession.

The report showed that the growth rate for the first quarter of 2017 shows an improvement over the revised -1.73 per cent GDP growth rate figure the nation recorded in December 2016 .

“In the first quarter of 2017, the nation’s GDP contracted by – 052 per cent (year on year) in real terms, representing the fifth consecutive quarter of contraction since Q 1 2016,” the NBS said in the report.

“This is higher than the rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2016 and higher by 1. 21 percentage points from rate recorded in the preceding quarter.”

The report is coming despite the government’s recent claims that the economy had been on its way out of recession.

Earlier in May, the minister of finance, Kemi Adeosun, had said that the nation would be out of recession soon.

The latest report shows that this is the fifth consecutive contraction in GDP growth rate that the economy would be recording since the first quarter of 2016.

“This is 0.15 per cent higher than the rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2016 (revised to –0.67 per cent from –0.36 per cent).

“This is higher by 1.21 per cent points from rate recorded in the preceding quarter (revised to –1.73 per cent from –1.30 per cent)

“Quarter-on-quarter, real GDP growth was –12.92 per cent,”’ the report stated.