By Chijioke Ohuocha
ABUJA (Reuters) -Nigeria’s GDP grew 3.54% in the second quarter, down from 5.01% in the same period last year, as oil production fell and inflation rose, the national statistics office said on Friday.
Africa’s top oil producer, Nigeria is battling to curb large-scale crude oil theft, which President Muhammadu Buhari has said is affecting the country’s revenues “enormously”.
Slow growth, soaring inflation and an unstable currency have also hampered an economy still trying to recover from the pandemic and facing a presidential election in February. Buhari will be unable to take part after completing his constitutionally mandated term of office.
Nigeria recorded an average daily oil output of 1.43 million barrels per day (mbpd) in the second quarter, lower than the daily average of 1.61 mbpd registered in the same quarter of 2021, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said.
Oil production, which accounts for around two-thirds of government revenue and 90% of its foreign exchange reserves, contracted 11.77% in the second quarter, the NBS said.
It added that the non-oil sector, which the government is trying to develop into the economy’s main growth area, rose 4.77% in the second quarter as trade, telecoms, crop production and financial institutions lifted growth.
“In addition, the recent rising prices have adversely impacted the second quarter 2022 performance,” the NBS said.
Gross domestic product grew by 3.11% in the first quarter of 2022. It was up 3.98% in the last three months of 2021.
“We expect the drag from the oil sector to diminish further in the coming quarters. The recovery outside of the key oil sector is likely to lose steam,” said Virag Forizs, an emerging markets economist at Capital Economics.
The IMF has said it expects Nigeria’s growth to reach 3.4% this year, the same as 2021, with inflation remaining elevated.
(Reporting by Chijioke OhuochaEditing by James Macharia Chege and Mark Heinrich)
