Nigeria Economy
Is Nigeria a wealthy country?
Nigeria is Sub Saharan Africa’s largest economy and relies heavily on oil as its main source of foreign exchange earnings and government revenues. Following the 2008-09 global financial crises, the banking sector was effectively recapitalized and regulation enhanced. Since then, Nigeria’s economic growth has been driven by growth in agriculture, telecommunications, and services. Economic diversification and strong growth have not translated into a significant decline in poverty levels; over 62% of Nigeria's over 180 million people still live in extreme poverty.
Despite its strong fundamentals, oil-rich Nigeria has been hobbled by inadequate power supply, lack of infrastructure, delays in the passage of legislative reforms, an inefficient property registration system, restrictive trade policies, an inconsistent regulatory environment, a slow and ineffective judicial system, unreliable dispute resolution mechanisms, insecurity, and pervasive corruption. Regulatory constraints and security risks have limited new investment in oil and natural gas, and Nigeria's oil production had been contracting every year since 2012 until a slight rebound in 2017.
President BUHARI, elected in March 2015, has established a cabinet of economic ministers that includes several technocrats, and he has announced plans to increase transparency, diversify the economy away from oil, and improve fiscal management, but has taken a primarily protectionist approach that favors domestic producers at the expense of consumers. President BUHARI ran on an anti-corruption platform, and has made some headway in alleviating corruption, such as implementation of a Treasury Single Account that allows the government to better manage its resources and a more transparent government payroll and personnel system that eliminated duplicate and "ghost workers." The government also is working to develop stronger public-private partnerships for roads, agriculture, and power.
Nigeria entered recession in 2016 as a result of lower oil prices and production, exacerbated by militant attacks on oil and gas infrastructure in the Niger Delta region, coupled with detrimental economic policies, including foreign exchange restrictions. GDP growth turned positive in 2017 as oil prices recovered and output stabilized.
Nigeria Economy Data
What is the GDP of Nigeria?
| Currency Name and Code | Nigerian Naira (NGN) |
| GDP - Gross Domestic Product (PPP) | $1,013,530,000,000 (USD) |
| GDP - official exchange rate | $493,000,000,000 (USD) |
| GDP - real growth rate | 4% |
| GDP Per Capita | $6,400.00 (USD) |
| GDP by Sector- agriculture | 20.3% |
| GDP by Sector- Industry | 23.6% |
| GDP by Sector- services | 56.1% |
| GDP - composition, by end use |
household consumption: 74.1% government consumption: 7.7% investment in fixed capital: 16.8% investment in inventories: 0% exports of goods and services: 13% imports of goods and services: -11.6% |
| Population Below Poverty Line | 70% |
| Inflation Rate | 13.9% |
| Labor Force | 48,330,000 |
| Labor Force By Occupation- agriculture | 70% |
| Labor Force By Occupation- industry | 10% |
| Labor Force By Occupation- services | 20% |
| Unemployment Rate | 4.9% |
| Fiscal Year | calendar year |
| Annual Budget | $18,160,000,000 (USD) |
| Budget Surplus or Deficit - percent of GDP | -1.5% |
| Public Debt (% of GDP) | 11.2% |
| Taxes and other revenues - percent of GDP | 4.8% |
| Major Industries | crude oil, coal, tin, columbite, palm oil, peanuts, cotton, rubber, wood, hides and skins, textiles, cement and other construction materials, food products, footwear, chemicals, fertilizer, printing, ceramics, steel |
| Industrial Growth Rate | 4% |
| Agriculture Products | cocoa, peanuts, palm oil, corn, rice, sorghum, millet, cassava (tapioca), yams, rubber; cattle, sheep, goats, pigs; timber; fish |
| Exchange Rate per US Dollar | naira (NGN) |
| Child Labor - % of children ages 5-14 | 29% |
| Child Labor - # of children ages 5-14 | 11,396,823 |
| Commercial Bank Prime Lending Rate | 15.5% |