Finance: Nigeria’s chief statistician says the economy is still struggling and has not fully recovered from the recession

In the first quarter, the Nigerian economy grew 1.95% a slight downturn from 2.11% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2017.

Yemi Kale, the Statistician-General of the Federation, has stated that the Nigerian economy is still struggling and has not fully recovered from the 2016 recession.

Nigeria entered into its worst economic recession in 20 years in the second quarter of 2016, as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures contracted by 2.06%.

In an interview over the weekend on Arise TV, the statistician-general lamented that the performance of the nation’s economy in the second quarter 2018 may be flat from the previous quarter.

 

“Surprisingly, I expected the numbers should be much better; it is looking very similar to the first quarter. I think the economy is still struggling out of recession and that is what the numbers are showing.”

“Agriculture is not just about crops; when you destroyed a farmland or even cattle rearing is also part of agriculture, so the back and forth are affecting both crop production and livestock and agriculture is the biggest part of our GDP and that is slowing down the economy,” he said during the interview.

In the first quarter, the economy grew 1.95% a slight downturn from 2.11% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2017.

Nigerian economy in Q1

For the first time since the country came out of recession in 2017, non-oil sector struggled as the economy grew by 1.95% in the first quarter lifted by the oil sector, Business Insider SSA had reported.

IMF projection for 2018

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund, IMF, had identified global debt levels, geopolitical risks, and trade tensions as threats that may hinder growth projections of emerging and developing economies like Nigeria.

In its April 2018 publication of the World Economic Outlook, the IMF also projected Nigeria’s economy to accelerate to 2.1% in 2018, up from the 0.8% in 2017.

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