CBN’s Naira Redesign Policy Cuts Nigeria’s GDP Growth Rate To 2.31% In Q1

Nigeria’s economy has declined by 2.31 per cent in the first quarter of 2023, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The NBS disclosed this on Wednesday in its Gross Domestic Product Report for the first quarter of 2023.

The Bureau said GDP declined from the 3.11 per cent in Q1 2022 to 2.31 per cent year-on-year.

Nigeria’s economy also declined by 1.21 per cent to 3.52 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2022.

The NBS said, “This growth rate declined from 3.11 per cent recorded in the first quarter of 2022, and 3.52 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2022, the reduction in growth is attributed to the adverse effects of the cash crunch experienced during the quarter.”

On a sector basis, NBS however, noted that the GDP performance in the first quarter was driven mainly by the services sector, which recorded a growth of 4.35 per cent and contributed 57.29 per cent to the aggregate GDP.

The report also indicated that the agriculture sector and the industry sector contributed less to the aggregate GDP in the quarter under review compared to the first quarter of 2022.

Further breakdown of the report, showed that agriculture fell by -0.90 per cent, lower than the growth of 3.16 per cent recorded in the first quarter of 2022.

However, it noted that the growth of the industry sector improved to 0.31 per cent compared to – 6.81 per cent recorded in the first quarter of 2022.

The oil sector fell –4.21 per cent on a year-on-year basis in Q1 2023, indicating an improvement of 21.83 per cent relative to the rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2022 at -26.04 per cent.