The stages after an economic recession include an economic recovery where the economy moves gradually towards sustainable strong growth.

Isaac Anumihe, Abuja and Bimbola Oyesola

National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) yesterday refuted a widely-reported story that the economy is still in the woods.

In a statement, Head, Public Affairs and International Relations of NBS, Mr. Sunday Ichedi, insisted that the economy was out of recession and at no time did NBS or its Chief Executive Officer state otherwise.

The Statistician-General and Director General of NBS, Dr. Yemi Kale, had during a TV programme at the weekend stated that the conflicts between farmers and herdsmen dragged down the gross domestic report in the second quarter of 2018.

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He said, “I am not going to give the final figure because the work is not even completed but from the numbers I am seeing, it is looking quite flat. But I expected the numbers should be much better; it is looking very similar to the figures of the first quarter. I think the economy is still struggling out of recession and that is what the numbers are showing.

“For example, we have seen challenges in agriculture because of the clashes that are happening in different parts of the country. Obviously, if people cannot go to the farms, it is going to be a problem.

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“Agriculture is not just crops. When you destroy a farmland or even cattle rearing, it is also part of agriculture. So the back and forth are affecting both crop production and livestock and agriculture is the biggest part of our GDP and that is slowing down the economy,” he said.

However, Kale said the projection of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that the economy will grow by 2.1 pecent by the end of 2018 is achievable.

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Ichedi said, “you will recall that it was the same NBS that announced the end of recession in Q2, 2017 following the announcement of the first positive growth in the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) following five quarters’ contraction and economic growth as measured by GDP. The indicators have remained positive ever since,” he said.

According to him, the economy recorded 0.72 percent in Q2, 2017, 1.7 percent in Q3, 2017, 2.11 percent in Q4, 2017, 1.95 per in Q1, 2018.

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The document also said that NBS has stated severally that the stages after an economic recession include an economic recovery where the economy moves gradually following the end of a recession towards sustainable strong growth.

“This is the stage of recovery we are in now and was alluded to by the Statistician General during his interview. That the economy is in the second stage of recovery, heading towards sustainable growth, which is the last stage of recovery cannot be wrongly interpreted that the economy is still in a recession” he said.