ECONOMY

The Nigerian economy has been adversely affected by external shocks, in particular a fall in the global price of crude oil. Oil price volatility continues to influence Nigeria’s growth performance. Between 2000 and 2014, Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew at an average rate of 7% per year. Following the oil price collapse in 2014-2016, combined with negative production shocks, the gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate dropped to 2.7% in 2015. In 2016 during its first recession in 25 years, the economy contracted by 1.6%. Since 2015, economic growth remains muted.

The sluggish growth is mainly attributed to a slowdown in economic activity which has been adversely impacted by the inadequate supply of foreign exchange and aggravated by the foreign exchange restrictions targeted which has affected the manufacturing and agro-industry’s ability to source for much need inputs for production. This has resulted in cuts in production and shedding of labour in some sectors.

Three metrics were used to rank the nation's strongest economies

• Business Environment
• Economic Growth
• Labour