Nigeria slides into recessionNigeria’s gross domestic product contracted by 2.06% in the second quarter, the statistics office said on Wednesday, sending Africa’s biggest economy into a recession after a decline in the first quarter.
The Nigerian Bureau of Statistics said the non-oil sector declined due to a weaker currency while lower oil prices dragged the oil sector down. Output shrank by 0.36% in the first quarter.
Nigeria is in the midst of an economic crisis triggered by a slump in crude prices, its mainstay, which has hammered public finances and the naira and caused chronic dollar shortages.
Crude sales account for around 70% of government revenues.
The West African nation was last in a recession, for less than a year, in 1991, and experienced a prolonged one that started in 1982 and last until 1984, NBS data showed.
On Wednesday, the statistics office also said annual inflation rose to 17.1% in July from 16.5% in June, and food inflation rose to 15.8% from 15.3%.
NAMPA/REUTERS