Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy, has entered its second recession in five years, pulled down by the impact of COVID-19 restrictions.
Official figures published Saturday confirmed what has been expected in the past few months, that the economy contracted again in the third quarter of this year.
The National Bureau of Statistics, in its Gross Domestic Product report for Q3, said the GDP fell by 3.62 in the three months to September.
“The performance of the economy in Q3 2020 reflected residual effects of the restrictions to movement and economic activity implemented across the country in early Q2 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” NBS explained.
Earlier, the economy had shrunk in the second quarter of this year, as the GDP fell by 6.10 percent, compared with a growth of 1.87 percent in Q1.
In theory, a consecutive decline in GDP for two quarters constitutes what economists call a recession.
“Cumulatively, the economy has contracted by -2.48%. While this represents an improvement of 2.48% points over the –6.10% growth rate recorded in the preceding quarter (Q2 2020),
it also indicates that two consecutive quarters of negative growth have been recorded in 2020,” NBS said in its report.
The Nigerian economy fell into its first recession in 25 years in Q2 of 2016 after the GDP fell by 2.1 percent following a decline of 0.4 percent in Q1. That was blamed on a steep fall in global crude oil prices and the country’s production volumes.
Nigeria exited that recession in the second quarter of 2017 after five quarters.
The NBS had explained in August that the economic decline in Q2 this year was due to lower levels of both domestic and international economic activity resulting from nationwide shutdown efforts aimed at containing the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nigeria, like most countries, was on lockdown from March to August, as part of measures put in place by the government to stem the rise in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The statistical agency had explained that the contraction in the second quarter brought to an end the three-year trend of low but positive real growth rates recorded since the 2016/17 recession.
After exiting the 2016-17 recession, the economy maintained a slow recovery until the advent of the COVID-19 crisis halted that.
