Nigeria’s latest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) report published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reveals that an unexpected growth of 0.11 percent (year-on-year) in Quater four (Q4) has moved Africa’s largest economy out of recession. 

The economy suddenly came out of a recession as growth in agriculture (3.42 percent) and telecommunications (15.9 percent) balanced a fall in oil production. The gross domestic product grew 0.11 percent in the three months through December from a year earlier, compared with a decline of 3.6 percent in the third quarter, the bureau cited in its report. 

This shows the significant contributions of the non-oil sectors to the oil-dependent economy in 2020 when the world’s economy was shut down by a global oil price slash and the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. 

As of Q3, the economy had fallen into a full-blown recession as the country recorded a rise in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). GDP also slumped (in real-time) by -3.62 percent (year-on-year) in Q3 2020. This marked a full-blown recession and second consecutive contraction from -6.10 percent recorded in the second quarter (Q2 2020).

In December 2020, the NBS stated in a publication that the October 2020 CPI increased by 14.23 percent (year-on-year). The rise represents 0.52 percent, compared to the rate recorded in September 2020 (13.71 percent). 

However, the latest GDP report indicates that the service sector contributed 54.28 percent to the GDP in Q4 2020, followed by agriculture (26.95 percent) and industries (18.77 percent). The non-oil oils sector which grew by 1.69 percent accounted for 94.13 percent while the oil sector contributed 5.87 percent to the total GDP for Q4 2020.