By Alexis Akwagyiram LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria's gross domestic product contracted by 0.36 percent in the first quarter of the year, the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Friday, as the worst crisis to grip Africa's biggest economy in decades continues to deepen. The contraction compares with growth of 2.11 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015 and 3.96 percent in the same period last year, heightening expectations that the central bank will take action when its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meets next week. Africa's biggest oil exporter has been hit hard by low world prices for crude, sales of which account for around 70 percent of national income. "This is probably the economy's worst performance since the mid-1990s," said John Ashbourne, Africa analyst at Capital Economics, in a note on the GDP figures. The central bank has imposed currency restrictions but maintained the naira's peg against the dollar. Investment has fallen, as foreign firms expect an eventual devaluation because of the slump in oil revenues. President Muhammadu Buhari has rejected calls by the International Monetary Fund for a more flexible exchange rate. "The biggest falls in growth came in the manufacturing sector, which is being squeezed by a complex and inflexible FX system," said Ashbourne. "It is now clear that these policies have – as we'd long argued – made a bad situation worse." Inflation has also been fuelled by pressure on the naira. Last week the NBS said annual inflation had quickened to a near six-year high of 13.7 percent in April. Analysts in a Reuters poll predicted that the central bank will devalue the naira in the next few months and hike interest rates at the MPC meeting, scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, to control inflation. Speculation that the naira may soon be devalued has grown since the vice president said last week that currency policies needed to change to encourage investment. The NBS on Friday also said oil production stood at 2.11 million barrels per day in the first quarter of 2016, lower than the 2.16 million barrels recorded in the fourth quarter of 2015. The figures do not reflect the impact of the resurgence of attacks on pipelines and oil facilities in the southern Niger Delta region. The oil minister said this week that these had pushed production down to 1.4 million barrels a day, the lowest level for more than 20 years. The 2016 budget assumes oil production of 2.2 million barrels per day at $38 a barrel. (Editing by Mark Trevelyan)