Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP) declined by –3.62 per cent (year-on-year) in the third quarter of 2020.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in its third quarter GDP report, released on Saturday, the economy contracted by -2.48 per cent, an indication that the country has recorded two consecutive quarters of negative growth in 2020.
According to economic analysis, the country’s economy has pushed down to recession.
The report showed that 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.
As these restrictions were lifted, businesses re-opened and international travel and trading activities resumed, some economic activities have returned to positive growth.
During the quarter under review, aggregate GDP stood at N39,089,460.61 million in nominal terms. This performance was 3.39% higher when compared to the third quarter of 2019 which recorded an aggregate of N37,806,924.41 million.
“This rate was, however, lower relative to growth recorded in the third quarter of 2019 by –9.91% points but higher than the proceeding quarter by 6.19% points.
“Real growth for the oil sector was –13.89% (year-on-year) in Q3 2020, indicating a sharp contraction of –20.38% points relative to the rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2019.
“Furthermore, real oil growth decreased by –7.26% points when compared with oil sector growth recorded in Q2 2020 (6.63%).
“Quarter on quarter however, the oil sector recorded a growth rate of 9.64% in Q3 2020. The sector contributed 8.73% to total real GDP in Q3 2020, down from 9.77% and 8.93% respectively recorded in the corresponding period of 2019 and the preceding quarter, Q2 2020,” it said.
For the non oil sector, the story was not much different as the sector grew by –2.51 per cent in real terms during the reference quarter, which is –4.36 percentage points lower than the rate recorded in Q3 2019 but 3.54 per cent higher than in the second quarter of 2020.
“In real terms, the non-oil sector contributed 91.27% to the nation’s GDP in the third quarter of 2020, higher than its share in the third quarter of 2019 (90.23% ) and the second quarter of 2020 (91.07%),” the NBS said.
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