Research Document: NESG Q1’2020 GDP Alert

Posted Thu, May 28, 2020 3:35 PM

Nigeria records a slower GDP growth rate of 1.9% in the first quarter of 2020

According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the Nigerian economy expanded by 1.9% year-on-year in Q1’2020 compared with a growth of 2.1% in the corresponding period of 2019 (Q1’2019). The current year-on-year growth rate also represented a slow pace of expansion relative to Q4’2019 (2.6%). On a quarter on quarter basis, economic growth slipped into negative territory at -14.3% in Q1’2020 from a positive growth of 5.6% in Q4’2019. This represented the highest quarter-on-quarter contraction since the last recession in 2016. The slow pace of growth could be largely attributed to the effects of COVID-19, which has resulted in the persistent decline in global crude oil prices coupled with weak demand for Nigeria’s crude on the global market. In addition, the unprecedented disruptions to global supply chains have crippled regular supplies of imported inputs for use in the country’s manufacturing sector. In nominal terms, the size of the economy in the first quarter of 2020 was N35.6 trillion (US$100 billion).