More excitements as Nigeria narrowly gets off the hook of recession, but…
It was joyous moment amongst federal lawmakers and other financial experts as the nation’s economy was declared out of recession on Tuesday by the data rolled out by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
With the report, Gross Domestic Product has returned to positive growth.
According to the NBS report, the GDP grew by 0.55 per cent (year-on-year) in real terms in the second quarter of 2017.
The GDP shrank by 0.52 per cent (year-on-year) in real terms in the first quarter of 2017, representing the fifth consecutive quarter of contraction since the first quarter of 2016.
The agency said “This growth is 2.04 per cent higher than the rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2016 ( –1.49 per cent) and higher by 1.46 per cent points from rate recorded in the preceding quarter, (revised to –0.91 per cent from –0.52 per cent). Quarter on quarter, real GDP growth was 3.23 per cent”.
It would be recalled that the economy had shrunk by 1.5 per cent in 2016, the first full-year contraction in 25 years.
After several quarters of slowdown in growth on the back of the steep fall in crude oil prices, the economy contracted by 0.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2016, 2.1 per cent in the second Explaining the meaning of exiting recession, a development economist, Prof Ken Ife said “For coming out with a plus 0.55, means that there was a jump of 0.01, an indication that both the monetary and fiscal policy managers partnered very well within the period of recession”.
However, it would be recalled that former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof Chukwkuma Soludo had two weeks ago, warned that even though the economy may exit recession soon, the scares may last longer in the economy.
