Respite As Nigeria Exits Recession After Slight Growth In 2020 Last Quarter

After two consecutive quarters of negative growth, Nigeria’s economy grew by 0.11 percent in the last quarter of 2020.

The negative growth of the two penultimate   quarters in 2020 plunge the country into a recession.

But the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) went up by 0.11% in real terms on year on year basis in the fourth quarter of last year, a report released by the Nigeria bureau of statistics on Thursday has shown.

“Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 0.11 percent (year-on-year) in real terms in the fourth quarter of 2020, representing the first positive quarterly growth in the last three quarters,” the report read.

“Though weak, the positive growth reflects the gradual return of economic activities following the easing of restricted movements and limited local and international commercial activities in the preceding quarters.

“As a result, while the Q4 2020 growth rate was lower than growth rate recorded the previous year by –2.44 percentage points, it was higher by 3.74 percentage points compared to Q3 2020.

“On a quarter on quarter basis, real GDP growth was 9.68 percent indicating a second positive consecutive quarter on quarter real growth rate in 2020 after two negative quarters.

“Overall, in 2020, the annual growth of real GDP was estimated at –1.92 percent, a decline of –4.20 percentage points when compared to the 2.27 percent recorded in 2019.”

An average daily oil production of 1.56 million barrels per day (mbpd) was recorded in the fourth quarter of 2020; 0.11mbpd lower than the production recorded in the third quarter.

On a year-on-year basis, the oil sector grew by -19.76 percent.

In 2020, the oil sector grew at –8.89 percent compared to 4.59 percent in 2019.

The oil sector contributed 5.87 percent to total real GDP in Q4 2020.