Despite rising inflation in the country, which as at October was 26.72 per cent, Nigeria’s economy grew by 2.54 per cent in the third quarter of this year. This is higher compared to the 2.51 per cent growth in Q2 and 2.25 per cent in the same period last year.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its third quarter (Q3) 2023 GDP report released yesterday, said the Gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 2.54 per cent (year-on-year) in real terms in Q3 2023 was driven mainly by the services sector, which recorded a growth of 3.99 per cent and contributed 52.70 per cent to the aggregate GDP.
It said the agriculture sector grew by 1.30 per cent, from the growth of 1.34 per cent recorded in the third quarter of 2022 and that the growth of the industry sector was 0.46 per cent, an improvement from -8.00 per cent recorded in Q3 of 2022.
“In terms of share of the GDP, agriculture and the industry sectors contributed less to the aggregate GDP in Q3 compared to the third quarter of 2022,” the report said.
The poor performance of agriculture and the industry sectors can be attributed to insecurity, which has forced many farmers to abandon their farms and the rising inflation, which has forced many manufacturing firms to shut down or scale down their production because of the high cost of production.
According to the NBS, the nominal GDP for Q3 2023 stood at N60.66 trillion while the real GDP was N19.44 trillion.
Nominal GDP and real GDP both quantify the total value of all goods produced in a country in a year. However, real GDP is adjusted for inflation while nominal GDP is not.
NBS said: “In the quarter under review, aggregate GDP stood at N60.66 trillion in nominal terms. This performance is higher when compared to the third quarter of 2022, which recorded aggregate GDP of N52,255,809.62, indicating a year-on-year nominal growth of 16.08 per cent.”
The NBS also said the non-oil sector grew by 2.75 per cent in real terms during the reference quarter (Q3 2023).
This rate was, however, lower by 1.52 per cent points compared to the rate recorded in the same quarter of 2022 and 0.84 per cent points lower than the second quarter of 2023.
“This sector was driven in the third quarter of 2023 mainly by Information and Communication (Telecommunication); Financial and Insurance (Financial Institutions); Agriculture (Crop production); Trade; Construction; and Real Estate, accounting for positive GDP growth,” the report said.
“In real terms, the non-oil sector contributed 94.52 per cent to the nation’s GDP in the third quarter of 2023,” the report said.
It said this is higher than the share recorded in the third quarter of 2022, which was 94.34 per cent and lower than the 94.66 per cent recorded in the second quarter of 2023.
On the other hand, the oil sector, which in the past had made the most contribution to the GDP, contributed only 5.48 per cent to the total real GDP in Q3 2023, down from the figure recorded in the corresponding period of 2022 and up from the preceding quarter, where it contributed 5.66 per cent and 5.34 per cent respectively.
The report shows that the real growth of the oil sector was –0.85 per cent (year-on-year) in Q3 2023, indicating an increase of 21.83 per cent points relative to the rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2022 (-22.67 percent).
“Growth also increased by 12.58 per cent points when compared to Q2 2023 which was –13.43 percent,” the report said.
“On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the oil sector recorded a growth rate of 12.47 percent in Q3 2023,” the report added.
The report also shows that the nation in the third quarter of 2023 recorded an average daily oil production of 1.45 million barrels per day (mbpd), higher than the daily average production of 1.20mbpd recorded in the same quarter of 2022 by 0.25mbpd and higher than the second quarter of 2023 production volume of 1.22 mbpd by 0.23mbpd
