Economics
Nigeria Economy Contracts in 2016 for First Time in 25 Years
- GDP shrank every quarter last year as oil price, output fell
- IMF forecasts Nigeria’s economy will recover this year
le marché de Jankara à Lagos Island - Lagos au Nigeria - Afrique de l'ouest -
Photographer: Frédéric Soltan/Corbis via Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
Nigeria’s economy shrank for a fourth consecutive quarter in the three months through December and contracted for the whole year, the first such move since 1991.
Gross domestic product in Africa’s most-populous country declined 1.3 percent in the quarter from a year earlier, after shrinking 2.2 percent in the previous three months, the National Bureau of Statistics said in an e-mailed statement Tuesday. The median of 10 economist estimates compiled by Bloomberg was for the economy to shrink by 1.4 percent. GDP contracted 1.5 percent for all of 2016. It was the first full-year drop in 25 years, according to International Monetary Fund data.