Africa's biggest economy officially enters recession

LAGOS, Nigeria – Africa's biggest economy is officially in recession.

Nigeria's statistics office says gross domestic product declined by 2.06 percent in the second quarter of 2016.

The oil- and import-dependent economy declined by 0.36 percent in the first quarter of the year. It has been slammed by low petroleum prices, attacks by oil militants on pipelines and foreign currency shortages.

Wednesday's data from the National Bureau of Statistics put estimated oil production at 1.69 million barrels per day, down by 0.42 million barrels per day from the first quarter.

An economic adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari, Adeyemi Dipeolu, says the bleak data is "mostly due to a sharp contraction in the oil sector due to huge losses of crude oil production" resulting from vandalism and "sabotage."