Nigeria’s economy hammered by first full year of contraction in 25 years
Nigeria, Africa’s most-populous country, has suffered four successive quarters of contraction, mostly due to lower oil prices and output and resulting fuel shortages
Abuja — Nigeria’s economy shrank in 2016, the first year of contraction since 1991. The National Bureau of Statistics announced this on Tuesday, saying the December quarter was its fourth quarter running of shrinking. Gross domestic product was 1.3% lower in the December quarter than in the previous fourth quarter after shrinking 2.2% in the September quarter. The median of 10 economist estimates compiled by Bloomberg was for the economy to shrink 1.4%. GDP contracted 1.5% for all of 2016, the first full-year drop in 25 years, according to International Monetary Fund figures. Lower prices and output of oil, Nigeria’s biggest export, cut government revenue by about half and reduced the foreign currency available to import refined fuel and factory inputs. A weakening naira contributed to inflation accelerating to the highest level in more than a decade, prompting the central bank to increase its key lending rate to a record 14%. Nigeria’s economic woes were worsened by a five-month de...
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