The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Saturday confirmed that Nigeria is in its worst recession.
In a report released on twitter, the NBS announced that the country recorded a contraction of 3.62 per cent in the third quarter of 2020.
The country had earlier recorded a 6.10 per cent contraction in the second quarter.
It is the nation’s second recession since 2016, and the worst economic decline in almost four decades.
The Nigerian economy has been battered this year by the coronavirus pandemic, which caused significant decline in oil revenues and crippled economic activities
The report stated that oil production fell to 1.67 million barrels a day from 1.81 million barrels in the previous three months, which is the lowest since the third quarter in 2016, when the economy was in a contraction that lasted for over a year.
Officials of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning had earlier denied that the country was in a recession when the NBS announced a GDP contraction of 6.1%.
President Muhammadu Buhari, however, confirmed that the nation was in recession during his 2021 Budget presentation at the National Assembly.
The president said the government would work towards exiting the recession in 2021.
Comments are closed.