Nigeria’s Economy Fully Exits Recession, Grows By 0.51% In Q1

Despite the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, Nigeria’s economy has fully recovered from recession as Gross Domestic Product rose by 0.51 per cent in the first quarter of 2021.

The National Bureau of Statistics revealed the development on Sunday in its GDP report for the first quarter 2021.

The NBS said, “The Q1 2021 growth rate was slower than the 1.87 per cent growth rate
recorded in Q1 2020 but higher than 0.11 per cent recorded in Q4 2020.”

The Nigerian economy had grown 0.11 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2020, from the 6.11 percent contraction in the third quarter.

The continent’s largest economy fell into a recession after the Covid-19 pandemic hit its major sources of revenues.

The country’s major source of export revenue which is crude oil sales crashed during the period to a record low.

During the period, real GDP stood at N16.83trn, while nominal GDP was N40trn.

Growth in the non-oil sector was 0.79 per cent in real terms in the first quarter 2021.

This was –0.75 pe cent points lower compared to the rate recorded in the same quarter of 2020, according to NBS.

The oil sector GDP contracted by -2.21 per cent in the first quarter despite oil price rebound.

The oil sector result shows a decrease of -7.27 per cent growth rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2020 at 5.06 per cent.

Growth in the non-oil sector component of the GDP was driven principally by the Information and Communication sector.

Other drivers were agriculture (crop production); manufacturing (food, beverage and tobacco); real estate; construction and human health and social services.

The Non-oil sector accounted for 90.75 per cent of aggregate GDP in the first quarter of 2021.

The data further revealed that the Oil sector accounted for 9.25 per cent of aggregate real GDP in first quarter of 2021, slightly lower than 9.5 per cent recorded in the corresponding period of 2020