The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said Nigeria’s economy is likely to shrink by 1.3 per cent in 2016 due to the sharp fall in the naira after dollar peg was dropped in June.
The NBS had predicted a growth of 3.8 per cent in 2016 but low oil prices had thwarted the prediction with a contraction of 2.1 per cent in the second quarter.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) already predicted in July that Nigeria’s economy would contract 1.8 percent this year.
The NBS had also revised its inflation forecasts, NBS head, Yemi Kale said year-end inflation was estimated at between 17.1 percent and 18 per cent, up from 9 percent at the start of the year.
“All things remaining constant, year-end GDP should be around -1.3 percent from our internal model,” he told the press.
Oil sales, which generate 90 percent of foreign exchange for the economy, contributed around 10 percent of Nigeria’s GDP directly and around 52 percent indirectly through its links with other sectors, Kale said.
