The current recession, which the Nigerian economy recently slid into, will be short-lived, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, has said.
Ahmed said this at the ongoing 26th Nigerian Economic Summit organised by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group and the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning.
She said the country would emerge from the recession in the fourth quarter of this year or by the first quarter of 2021.
Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy, entered its second recession in five years in the third quarter of this year as the Gross Domestic Product fell for the second consecutive quarter.
The GDP dropped by 3.62 per cent in Q3 and 6.10 per cent in Q2, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
The finance minister said the COVID-19-induced recession followed the pattern across the world where many countries had entered an economic recession.
According to her, South Africa, which recorded a decline of -50 per cent compared to Nigeria’s -6.1 per cent in Q2, will also record a deeper negative growth in Q3.