Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expanded slower than the population for 10 consecutive quarters, figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics Tuesday show.
GDP grew 1.94 percent in the second quarter of 2019, NBS said, marking the 10th successive quarter that the nation’s economic growth has underperformed population growth, currently put at 2.6 percent.
This implies that the economy is not expanding fast enough to provide new opportunities for a rapidly growing population.
The growth rate is a decline from the 2.1 percent growth in the first quarter, after oil output declined.
On a year on year basis however, it is a modest rise compared to the 1.5 percent growth recorded in the second quarter of 2018.
The IMF sees the economy expanding 2 percent by year-end, which would mean the fourth straight year of negative GDP per capita.
“Investor confidence over the health of Nigeria’s economy is being tested after economic growth slowed in the second quarter of 2019,” said Lukman Otunuga, a senior research analyst at FXTM.
“It is becoming quite clear that as long as oil dependence remains one of Nigeria’s biggest risk, this will continue weighing heavily on the economy for the rest of 2019,” Otunuga said in a note to BusinessDay.
Analysts say the disappointing GDP data should nudge the CBN to cut interest rates for the second time this year in September in an effort to stimulate growth.
The CBN cut rates by 50 basis points to 13.5 percent in March after two years of keeping it at a record high 14 percent.
