Nigeria is out of recession, records 0.55 pct GDP in Q2, says NBS

Nigeria's economy, the biggest in Africa has finally exited the recession, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which showed that the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 0.55 percent in the second quarter of this year.
The economy of the West African country has contracted for the past five consecutive quarters due to currency crisis brought about by slumped in global oil prices and a sharp drop in crude production output.
Nigeria’s economy was last in recession, for less than a year, in 1991, NBS data shows. It also experienced a prolonged recession from 1982 until 1984.
The latest data showed that the second quarter year-on-year growth rate of 0.55 per cent was 2.04 per cent higher than the rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2016 (-1.49 percent) and contrast -0.91 percent revised rate in the preceding quarter.
The statistics office reports showed that Nigeria’s economic recovery was driven principally by the performance of four main economic activities comprising oil, agriculture, manufacturing, and trade.
But that recovery failed to drive a strong rebound in overall economic growth.
“This is not at all a robust GDP print, it still falls far short of the growth rates the Nigerian economy should be achieving,” said Razia Khan, chief economist for Africa at Standard Chartered.
“While improved oil production has driven some of the recoveries, the output numbers provided by the National Bureau of Statistics suggest that further upside from this source might be limited.”