The nation’s economy has snapped out of its first recession in 25 years as Gross Domestic Product has returned to positive growth.
The National Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday said the GDP grew by 0.55 per cent (year-on-year) in real terms in the second quarter of 2017.
The GDP shrank by 0.52 per cent (year-on-year) in real terms in the first quarter of 2017, representing the fifth consecutive quarter of contraction since the first quarter of 2016.
“This growth is 2.04 per cent higher than the rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2016 ( –1.49 per cent) and higher by 1.46 per cent points from rate recorded in the preceding quarter, (revised to –0.91 per cent from –0.52 per cent). Quarter on quarter, real GDP growth was 3.23 per cent,” the NBS said in the Q2 2017 GDP report.
The economy had shrunk by 1.5 per cent in 2016, the first full-year contraction in 25 years.
After several quarters of slowdown in growth on the back of the steep fall in crude oil prices, the economy contracted by 0.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2016, 2.1 per cent in the second quarter, 2.2 per cent in the third and 1.3 per cent in the fourth