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.

Fitch rating: B (2020)

Moody's rating: B2 (2017)

Standard & Poors rating: B- (2020)

cocoa, peanuts, cotton, palm oil, corn, rice, sorghum, millet, cassava (manioc, tapioca), yams, rubber; cattle, sheep, goats, pigs; timber; fish

crude oil, coal, tin, columbite; rubber products, wood; hides and skins, textiles, cement and other construction materials, food products, footwear, chemicals, fertilizer, printing, ceramics, steel

calendar year

India 30.6%, US 12.1%, Spain 6.6%, China 5.6%, France 5.5%, Netherlands 4.4%, Indonesia 4.4% (2017)

petroleum and petroleum products 95%, cocoa, rubber (2012 est.)

machinery, chemicals, transport equipment, manufactured goods, food and live animals

China 21.1%, Belgium 8.7%, US 8.4%, South Korea 7.5%, UK 4.4% (2017)

nairas (NGN) per US dollar -

general assessment: one of the larger telecom markets in Africa; most Internet connections are via mobile networks; foreign investment presence, particularly China; market competition; LTE-A technologies available but GSM technology dominate; mobile penetration rate of 123% and 173 million subscribers; unified licensing regime; government committed to expanding broadband penetration; in Q1 2018, the Nigerian Communications Commission approved seven licenses to telecom companies to deploy fiber optic cable in the six geopolitical zones and Lagos; operators invest in base stations to take care of network congestion (2020)

domestic: fixed-line subscribership remains less than 1 per 100 persons; mobile-cellular services growing rapidly, in part responding to the shortcomings of the fixed-line network; multiple cellular providers operate nationally with subscribership base over 88 per 100 persons (2019)

international: country code - 234; landing point for the SAT-3/WASC, NCSCS, MainOne, Glo-1 & 2, ACE, and Equiano fiber-optic submarine cable that provides connectivity to Europe and South and West Africa; satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat (2 Atlantic Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean) (2019)

nearly 70 federal government-controlled national and regional TV stations; all 36 states operate TV stations; several private TV stations operational; cable and satellite TV subscription services are available; network of federal government-controlled national, regional, and state radio stations; roughly 40 state government-owned radio stations typically carry their own programs except for news broadcasts; about 20 private radio stations; transmissions of international broadcasters are available; digital broadcasting migration process completed in three states in 2018 (2019)

.ng

5N (2016)

124 km condensate, 4045 km gas, 164 km liquid petroleum gas, 4441 km oil, 3940 km refined products (2013)

by type: general cargo 15, oil tanker 105, other 557 (2019)

主要海港: Bonny Inshore Terminal, Calabar, Lagos

液化天然气接收站 (export): Bonny Island