By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
The Nigerian economy contracted during the third quarter of this year from a Gross Domestic Product growth rate of 5.01 per cent in the second quarter to 4.03 per cent in the third quarter.
This was disclosed by the Statistician General of the Federation Dr Simon Harry on Thursday in Abuja.
He said that during the quarter, aggregate nominal GDP stood at N45.11trn which is an increase of 15.41 per cent over the performance in the corresponding period of 2020.
Harry explained that the base effect of the negative economic growth recorded in Q2 and Q3 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the growth in GDP in 2021.
He added that the current growth trend could be sustained with strict adherence to safety measures put in place to control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and other variants of the disease.
In terms of performance, he said for the oil sector, an average daily oil production of 1.57 million barrels per day (mbpd) was recorded in the third quarter of this year.
This, he noted showed a lower volume compared to 1.67mbpd recorded in Q3 2020 by 0.10mbpd.
Third quarter 2021 daily oil production also showed lower volume compared to the second quarter 2021 production volume of 1.61mbpd.
This trend, he noted accounts for oil growth rate of -10.73% in real terms recorded in third quarter 2021.
