For anyone in doubt about how terribly downhill the Nigerian economy has gone under President Muhammadu Buhari, all doubts should be cleared now with the official report of the National Bureau of Statistics published on Wednesday, August 31, 2016 showing that Nigeria is now in its worst economic recession in 29 years.
According to the NBS gross domestic product (GDP) report for the second quarter of 2016, Nigeria’s economy contracted by 2.06 percent to record its lowest growth rate in three decades.
In the first quarter of 2016, the NBS said the economy shrank by 0.36 percent to hit its lowest point in 25 years.
According to World Bank data, the last time Nigeria had this magnitude of economic decline was under the regime of Ibrahim Babangida, when the economy recorded consecutive decline of 0.51 percent and 0.82 percent in first and second quarters of 1987.
“In the Second Quarter of 2016, the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) declined by -2.06% (year-one 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 oil sector experience a decline of 17.48 percent, while the agricultural sector grew by 13.24 percent within the quarter.
“With the mining sector shrinking by 47.9 percent and manufacturing falling by 1.02 percent, the general non-oil sector declined by 0.38 percent.”
