Nigeria’s economic growth slowed to 2.51% in the second quarter from 3.54% a year earlier, according to new government figures, as the economy struggled amid high energy prices and foreign exchange shortage.
“This growth rate is lower than the 3.54% recorded in the second quarter of 2022 and may be attributed to the challenging economic conditions being experienced,” the statistics agency said on Friday.
The NBS said growth was driven mainly by the services sector, which recorded a growth of 4.42% and contributed 58.42% to the aggregate gross domestic product.
The GDP was however faster than 2.31% recorded in the first quarter of 2023.
– Economic problems
The Nigerian economy has now grown for 11 consecutive quarters after a recession in 2020.
The oil sector which accounts for around two-thirds of government revenue and 90% of foreign-exchange reserves, contracted 5.3% — from 6.1%.
The economy had slowed in the first quarter of the year, impacted by a bungled redesign of naira notes.
While notes supply improved during the second quarter, the removal of petrol subsidy made inflation worse as businesses continued to struggle with shortage of foreign exchange.
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