Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) 1.4 percent year-on-year in the third quarter, extending the gains started in the second quarter when the Africa's biggest economy exited recession, according to the latest data from National Bureau Statistics (NBS) on Monday.
The West African country returned to growth in the second quarter of 2017 but the recovery has been fragile due to the continuation of depressed oil revenues and a shortage of hard currency.
The statistics offfice said oil production, on which the OPEC member state’s economy largely relies, stood at 2.03 million barrels per day in the third quarter.
President Muhammadu Buhari’s 2017 budget outlines record levels of spending, especially on infrastructure, to try to kick-start growth, but the plan has faltered.
The budget was delayed as lawmakers withheld approval, and even when passed, planned capital spending has been slow to happen.
Despite these problems, Buhari’s government is proposing record spending of 8.6 trillion naira in 2018, although economists have questioned whether that goal is realistic.
The faster economic growth may allow the central bank to continue its tight monetary policy to fight inflation that has been above the upper end of the 6 percent to 9 percent target range for more than two years.
The statistics offfice said oil production, on which the OPEC member state’s economy largely relies, stood at 2.03 million barrels per day in the third quarter.
President Muhammadu Buhari’s 2017 budget outlines record levels of spending, especially on infrastructure, to try to kick-start growth, but the plan has faltered.
The budget was delayed as lawmakers withheld approval, and even when passed, planned capital spending has been slow to happen.
Despite these problems, Buhari’s government is proposing record spending of 8.6 trillion naira in 2018, although economists have questioned whether that goal is realistic.
The faster economic growth may allow the central bank to continue its tight monetary policy to fight inflation that has been above the upper end of the 6 percent to 9 percent target range for more than two years.
The monetary policy committee is scheduled to announce its final rate decision for the year on Tuesday. The MPC has kept the benchmark rate at a record high of 14 percent since July 2016.
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