Nigeria’s Economic Growth Surprises as Oil Sector Slump Ends

  • GDP expanded 3.46% in fourth quarter; analysts expected 2.4%
  • Oil sector snapped more than three years of contraction

Market stall vendors and commuters in Lagos.

Photographer: Benson Ibeabuchi/Bloomberg
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Nigeria’s economy grew faster than anticipated in the fourth quarter after the oil sector exited a more than three-year contraction.

Gross domestic product expanded an annual 3.46% in the three months through December, compared with growth of 2.54% in the previous quarter, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Thursday. The median estimate of six economists in a Bloomberg survey was 2.4%.