By Dipo Olowookere
One of the leading independent investment banking firms in Nigeria, Afrinvest, has predicted a 2.7 percent rise in the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the third quarter of this year.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is expected to release the GDP for the Q3 of 2017 on Monday morning.
In the second quarter of this year, the Africa’s largest economy posted a marginal GDP growth of 0.55 percent and this pulled Nigeria out of recession it slipped into last year.
In the first quarter of 2017, according to the NBS, Nigeria’s GDP contracted by 0.52 percent (year-on-year) in real terms and it was the fifth consecutive quarter of contraction since the first quarter of 2016.
In its weekly market report, Afrinvest said it expects the Q3 2017 GDP to increase by 2.7 percent as a result of rebound in the oil production.
The Q2 2017 GDP growth was mainly influenced by increase in the oil production as a result of peace in the oil-rich Niger Delta region of the country.
“The NBS is due to release Q3:2017 GDP report on Monday and we expect growth to accelerate to 2.7 percent in the quarter from 0.55 percent in Q2:2017, driven by rebound in oil production and nascent recovery in the non-oil sector which disappointed in Q2,” Afrinvest said in the report.
During his 2018 budget presentation to the Senate on November 7, 2017, President Muhammadu Buhari said his administration expects the real GDP to grow by 3.5 percent.
