Nigeria has slipped into a recession after its gross domestic product contracted for the second consecutive quarter, according to data released on Saturday.
Africa’s biggest economy was last in recession in 2016, its first in a generation, and emerged the following year.
But growth had been fragile and the coronavirus pandemic hit the economy hard, as did low oil prices. The continent’s top oil exporter relies on crude sales for 90 per cent of foreign exchange earnings, reports Reuters.
“Q3 2020 Real GDP contracted for the second consecutive quarter by -3.62 per cent,” Yemi Kale said on Twitter.
“Cumulative GDP for the first 9 months of 2020, therefore, stood at -2.48 per cent,” he added.
The government had previously said it expected the economy to contract by as much as 8.9 per cent this year in a worst-case scenario without stimulus