COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE ECONOMY OF NIGERIA BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER THE CORONA VIRUS DISEASE 2019 (COVID-19) LOCKDOWN

Abstract

This study examines the Nigerian economy before, during, and after the COVID-19 lockdown by analyzing monthly data on six key economic indicators—Gross Domestic Product (GDP), inflation rate, unemployment rate, exchange rate, interest rate, and trade balance—from January 2019 to December 2021. Data were sourced from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and the World Bank. Repeated measures ANOVA and Friedman’s test (for non-normal data) were applied. Due to non-normality, the Friedman test was used to analyze GDP, interest rate, unemployment rate, and exchange rate, revealing significant differences across years. The Nemenyi post-hoc test identified statistically significant differences in GDP (2020–2021), interest rate (2019–2020, 2019–2021), unemployment rate (2019–2020, 2020–2021), and exchange rate (2019–2021). Repeated measures ANOVA was used for inflation rate and trade balance, showing significant differences in inflation rates but not in trade balance. Overall, five of the six economic indicators exhibited significant changes, underscoring the COVID-19 lockdown’s substantial impact on Nigeria’s economy.

Keywords: Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), Economic Indicators, Friedman Non-Parametric Test, Nigeria’s Economy, Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance