The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said that Nigeria’s economy has entered into recession as the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contracted for the second consecutive quarter by 3.62 percent in the third quarter of 2020.
Economic recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth. Negative GDP growth is also referred to as a contraction.
It was gathered that this year’s recession, occasioned by the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, is worse than that of 2016.
The NBS, in its Gross Domestic Product report for Q3, said the GDP, the broadest measure of economic prosperity, fell by 3.62% in the three months to September.
For the first time in more than three years, the Nigerian economy shrank in the second quarter of this year as the GDP fell by 6.10 per cent, compared with a growth of 1.87 per cent in Q1.
The NBS had said in August that the economic decline in Q2 was largely attributable to significantly lower levels of both domestic and international economic activity resulting from nationwide shutdown efforts aimed at containing the COVID-19 pandemic.
It said the contraction in Q2 brought to an end the three-year trend of low but positive real growth rates recorded since the 2016/17 recession.
The economy, which emerged from its first recession in 25 years in Q2 2017 when it posted a 0.7 per cent growth, had continued its slow recovery since then but the COVID-19 crisis made things worse.
