It’s official! Nigeria is in her worst recession in almost 30 years, a report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed.
According to the NBS’s report, Nigeria’s economy contracted by 2.06 percent to record its lowest growth rate in three decades.
The last time things were so bad was under the regime of Babangida when the economy recorded consecutive decline of 0.51 percent and 0.82 percent in first and second quarters of 1987, the World Bank said in a report.
The NBS report reads in part:
“In the Second Quarter of 2016, the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) declined by -2.06% (year-on-year) in real terms,” the NBS revealed.
“This was lower by 1.70% points from the growth rate of –0.36% recorded in the preceding quarter, and also lower by 4.41% points from the growth rate of 2.35% recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2015.
“Quarter on quarter, real GDP increased by 0.82% During the quarter, nominal GDP was N23,483,954.78 million (in nominal terms) at basic prices. This was 2.73% higher than the Second Quarter 2015 value of N22,859,153.01 million. This growth was lower than the rate recorded in the Second Quarter of 2015 by 2.44% points.”
The Federal government are telling Nigerians not to worry though, as they expect things to pick up in the second half of the year.