OpeOluwani Akintayo
Lagos — Nigeria’s oil sector shrank by 2 percent in the first quarter of this year, according to newly released data by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS.
NBS on Monday said in the first quarter, the non-oil sector grew 2.47% while the oil sector shrank 2.40%.
Although the Central Bank of Nigeria had forecast growth of 3% for 2019, the economy of the country slowed to 2.01 percent in the first quarter.
Growth in the first quarter of 2018 was 1.89%.
Nigeria’s economy is largely dependent on revenue from crude oil exports which make up over 90 percent of its earnings.
The country’s crude production rose to 1.96 million barrels per day from 1.91 million in the fourth quarter of last year.