Recession: Nigeria’s Economy Slides into Worst Recession Since 1987

Nigeria’s economy has slid into its worst economic recession since 1987

The National Bureau of Statistics on Saturday, November 21, released its Gross domestic product (GDP) numbers, indicates the nation recorded a contraction of 3.62 percent in the third quarter of 2020.

This is the second consecutive quarterly GDP decline since the last recession of 2016. The cumulative GDP for the first nine months of 2020, therefore, stood at -2.48 percent.

The last time Nigeria recorded such worst decline of its economy was in 1987, when GDP declined by 10.8 percent.

According to World Bank and NBS figures monitored by The Cable, this is the second recession under President Muhamadu Buhari’s administration and his fourth as head of state.

The World Bank earlier this year, had warned in a statement that the Nigerian economy is expected to plunge into severe economic recession, the worst in almost 40 years due to the collapse of oil prices and the outbreak of the COVID-19.

According to reports released by the World Bank in June, it predicted that Nigeria’s economy decline would likely contract by 3.2% in 2020.