LAGOS, June 18 (Xinhua) -- The economy of Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation is technically coming out of recession with positive signs, a top official said Sunday.
"If all prices do not collapse including Niger Delta crisis, by 2018 we (Nigeria's economy) would have recovered," Yemi Kale, the country's Statistician General told reporters in Abuja, the nation's capital.
"It was an extremely difficult period and we all felt it. I will say that most of the indicators suggest that we are coming out of it," he added, noting that barring any further hitches, the Nigerian economy will be out of recession in 2018.
"As if the worst has already happened and it's a slow process of recovery. Now there is what we call technical recovery as different from the recovery Nigerians would prefer," Kale told reporters.
The country's inflation dropped to 16.25 percent in May from 17.24 percent in April.
This is the fourth consecutive decline in the rate of inflation since January, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
