Nigeria's economy has slid into recession after negative growth in the first two quarters of the year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Wednesday.

Nigeria, Africa's top economy, has been battered by low oil prices hammering government revenues, weakening the national currency  and driving up inflation to an 11-year high.

"In the second quarter of 2016, the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) declined by -2.06 percent (year-on-year) in real terms," the NBS said. 

"This was lower by 1.70 percentage points from the growth rate of 0.36 percent recorded in the preceding quarter, and also lower by 4.41 percentage points from the growth rate of 2.35 percent recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2015," it said.