Nigeria Records 1.95% GDP Growth

Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 1.95% (year-on-year) in real term in the first quarter of 2018, the National Bureau of Statistics revealed on Monday.

According to data released by the NBS, the latest figure indicates a stronger growth when compared with the first quarter of 2017 which recorded a growth of -0.91% indicating an increase of 2.87% points.

However, the latest growth rate, compared to the last quarter, shows a decline of -0.16% points from 2.11%.

According to the report, quarter on quarter, real GDP growth was -13.40%, while aggregate GDP stood at N28.4 million in nominal terms.

Q1 2018 GDP report published: Real GDP rose by 1.95% in Q1 2018 compared to 2.11%(revised from 1.93%) in Q4 2017 & -0.91% in Q1 2017. Agric grew 3.0%(4.23% Q4 2017, 3.39% Q1 2017); Industry by 6.86%(4.87% Q4 2017, -5.83% Q1 2017); Services by -0.47%(0.10% Q4 2017, -0.37% Q1 2017) pic.twitter.com/uzxww3uyPW

— Dr Yemi Kale (@sgyemikale) May 21, 2018

“This performance is higher when compared to the first quarter of 2017 which recorded a nominal GDP aggregate of N26 million thus, presenting a positive year on year nominal growth rate of 9.36%,” the report stated.

“This rate of growth is however lower relative to growth recorded in Q1 2017 by -7.70% points at 17.06% but higher than the preceding quarter by 2.14% points at 7.22%.

“In the period under review, the nation recorded an average daily oil production of 2.0 million barrels per day (mbpd), higher than the daily average production recorded in the fourth quarter of 2017 by 0.05 mbpd and Real growth of the oil sector was 14.77% (year-on-year) in Q1 2018.

“This represents an increase of 30.37% points relative to rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2017. Quarter-on-Quarter, the oil sector grew by 13.24% in Q1 2018. The Oil sector contributed 9.61% to total real GDP in Q1 2018, up from 8.53% and 7.35% recorded in the Q1 2017 and Q4 2017, respectively.

“The non-oil sector grew by 0.76% in real terms during the reference quarter. This is higher by 0.04% point compared to the rate recorded same quarter of 2017 and 0.70% point lower than the fourth quarter of 2017.

“This sector was driven mainly by Agriculture (Crop production); other drivers were Financial institutions and insurance, Manufacturing, Transportation and Storage and Information and Communication.

“In real terms, the Non-Oil sector contributed 90.39% to the nation’s GDP, lower than 91.47% recorded in the first quarter of 2017 and 92.65% recorded in the fourth quarter of 2017.”