Nigeria finally out of recession, GDP grows - Official Report

After many months of being in recession, the Nigerian government has announced that the country has bounced back economically

- Dr Yemi Kale, the statistician-general of the country confirmed the development

- The confirmation comes amid earlier speculation of a positive outlook for the Nigerian economy
 The Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics has confirmed that the country is finally out of recession with a positive growth in its Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
 The confirmation was made by Dr Yemi Kale, the statistician-general of the federation, in the morning of Tuesday, September 5, 2017.
 In a post, Dr Kale said: “To avoid unhealthy speculation in the market, the Q2 2017 GDP report earlier scheduled for release at 10am will be published in five minutes.”
 The report on the Nigerian Gross Domestic Product showed that the economy recorded a positive growth after five consecutive quarters of contractions since Q1 2016.
 While the 0.55 percent growth recorded is 2.04 percent higher than the same report in the second quarter of 2016 with -1.49 percent, the quarter on quarter, real GDP growth stood 3.23 percent
 The oil sector is now estimated to have an average of 1.84 million barrels per day, 0.15 million barrels higher than the daily average production recorded in the first quarter of June.
 Agriculture, finance and insurance, electricity, gas, steam and air-conditioning supply and other services grew by 0.45 percent according to the report.
 Bloomberg had earlier reported that Nigeria, like South Africa, was coming out of recession.
 The report quoted Yvonne Mhango, an economist at Renaissance Capital, as saying the economic growth in Nigeria will return to positive territory in the second quarter, “on the back of a recovery in oil production, solid agriculture growth and an improvement in foreign-currency liquidity.
“We expect the recovery and growth to be fragile.”it was recently reported thatAfrica’s two biggest economies would likely emerge from recession in the second quarter but strong growth would not show up until business confidence is restored, a Reuters poll suggested on Friday August 31.
 It was gathered that Nigeria and South Africa have both benefited from a recovery in commodity prices since early 2016, though not as much as their main trading partners - China, the United States and the euro zone.