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The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, has said that Nigeria’s economy has entered into a technical recession.

In her presentation at a Senate committee hearing in Abuja on Thursday, Adeosun said “things are tough,” but the economy is in good hands and there should be no panic.

The International Monetary Fund had, two days ago, said in its updated World Economic Outlook that Nigeria’s economy will contract by 1.8 percent this year as the country faces challenging macroeconomic conditions.

“We should not be worried about IMF. We should be confident about what we are doing. Technically, Nigeria is in recession but we should not go into the definition,” Adeosun said. “Things are tough, but we are not ignorant. I want to assure Nigerians the economy is in good hands and we are absolutely doing our best. We want to assure Nigeria we are on the right path, we are on the right track.”

Also earlier this week, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported that Nigeria’s consumer price index rose to 16.5 percent in June from 15.6 percent recorded in the previous month.
 
In May, the NBS reported that the economy contracted by 0.36 percent in the first quarter of 2016.

But despite the downturn, Adeosun said the federal government is working to revive the economy by ensuring the release of funds devoted for capital expenditure in the N6.06 trillion 2016 budget signed by President Muhammadu Buhari earlier this year. The Minister of Finance said N248 billion has been released so far for capital expenditure.

“The objective is to release money for capital expenditure to get the economy going,” the minister said.