Nigeria’s economy grew faster than forecast by the central bank and government last year after an expansion in the agriculture and trade industries in the fourth quarter offset a sharp drop in oil production. Gross domestic product expanded 3.4% last year, after contracting 1.92% in 2020, Statistician-General Simon Harry told reporters in Abuja, the capital, on Thursday, That compares with the Finance Ministry’s estimate of 2.5% and the central bank’s projection for 3.1% growth. The full-year number was lifted by better-than-expected growth of 3.98% in the three months through December from a year earlier, compared with 4% in the third quarter The median estimate of 12 economists in a Bloomberg survey was for a quarterly number of 1.4%.
