First quarter 2021 inflation in Nigeria.
In the first three months of 2021, the economy in Nigeria grew by 0.51% from the year before, topping the previous quarter amidst the rise in oil prices, the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, official data relates.
Taking into account the 1.87% growth rate recorded in Q1 2020, the rate of growth of Q1 2021 is slow. That notwithstanding, it is higher than 0.11% recorded in Q4 2020, an indication of a slow constant recovery in the economy, the NBS reports.
Nigeria had seen a year of total contraction in 2020 driving it into a second recession since 2016. By the fourth quarter, it exited the 2020 recession.
- Nigeria exits recession records 1.92% GDP contraction
- Nigeria hits 18.17% inflation rate in March 2021 – NBS reports
The coronavirus pandemic which triggered the slow growth that it is still grappling with, in 2021 and recession in 2020 is also to blame for inflations, large financing gaps and steady dollar shortages.
The oil sector in Nigeria is its top source of revenue and accounts for over two-thirds of government revenue and 90% of foreign exchange.
Following the rise in crude oil production to 1.72 million barrels per day from the fourth quarter of 2020, the sector contracted 2.21% in the first quarter of 2021.
The non-oil sector is the other of Nigeria’s economy that the government is trying to level up to reduce its age-long dependency on the oil sector. The non-oil sector in Nigeria grew by 0.79% in the first quarter of 2021 uplifted by agriculture, real estate, telecoms and construction.