The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) confirmed yesterday that Nigeria’s economy has slipped into another recession for the second time since 2016. The current recession is the worst to hit Nigeria in 33 years.
The NBS made the confirmation in a new report released on Saturday.
According to NBS, the economy shrank again in the third quarter, just like it did in the second quarter.
The nation’s economy posted a second consecutive negative growth, contracting by 3.62 per cent in the third quarter.
The cumulative Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the first nine months of 2020, therefore, stood at -2.48 per cent.
It recorded a -6.10 per cent negative growth in the second quarter.
“Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP) recorded a growth rate of –3.62% (year-on-year) in real terms in the third quarter of 2020.
“Cumulatively, the economy has contracted by -2.48%. While this represents an improvement of 2.48% points over the –6.10% growth rate recorded in the preceding quarter (Q2 2020), it also indicates that two consecutive quarters of negative growth have been recorded in 2020.
“Furthermore, growth in Q3 2020 was slower by 5.90% points when compared to the third quarter of 2019 which recorded a real growth rate of 2.28% year on year,” NBS said.
In the three quarters of 2020, the economy only grew by 1.87 per cent in Q1.
The contraction in the second quarter was massive, at 6.1 per cent, caused by the domestic and global pandemic shutdown.
The Q2 contraction brought to an end the three-year trend of low but positive real growth rates recorded since the 2016/17 recession.
In May, Finance Minister, Zainab Ahmed, had predicted that the coronavirus pandemic and falling oil prices were set to force the economy into negative growth.
“COVID-19 has resulted in the collapse in oil prices,” she said.
“This will impact negatively, and the impact has already started showing on the federation’s revenues and on the foreign exchange earnings.
“Net oil and gas revenue and influx to the federation account in the first quarter of 2020 amounted to N940.91billion. This represented a shortfall of N125. 52billion or 31% of the pro-rated amount that is supposed to have been realized by the end of that first quarter.”