Nigeria’s GDP Growth Declines to 2.31%
Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 2.31% (year-on-year) in real terms in the first quarter of 2023, the statistics office said in a new report, a decline from 3.11% growth recorded in the first quarter of 2022, and 3.52% in the fourth quarter of 2022, the National Bureau of Statistics GDP report shows.
The reduction in growth is attributed to the adverse effects of the cash crunch experienced during the quarter. The performance of the GDP in the first quarter of 2023 was driven mainly by the Services sector, which recorded a growth of 4.35% and contributed 57.29% to the aggregate GDP.
The agriculture sector grew by -0.90%, lower than the growth of 3.16% recorded in the first quarter of 2022.
Although the growth of the industry sector improved to 0.31% relative to – 6.81% recorded in the first quarter of 2022, agriculture, and the industry sectors contributed less to the aggregate GDP in the quarter under review compared to the first quarter of 2022.
In the quarter under review, aggregate GDP stood at N51,242,151.21 million in nominal terms. This performance is higher when compared to the first quarter of 2022 which recorded aggregate GDP of N45,317,823.33 million, indicating a year-on-year nominal growth of 13.07%.
For better clarity, the Nigerian economy has been classified broadly into the oil and non-oil sectors
The nation in the first quarter of 2023 recorded an average daily oil production of 1.51 million barrels per day (mbpd), higher than the daily average production of 1.49mbpd recorded in the same quarter of 2022 by 0.01mbpd and higher than the fourth quarter of 2022 production volume of 1.34 mbpd by 0.17mbpd.
The real growth of the oil sector was –4.21% (year-on-year) in Q1 2023, indicating an increase of 21.83% points relative to the rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2022 (-26.04%). Growth increased by 9.18% points when compared to Q4 2022 which was –13.38%.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the oil sector recorded a growth rate of 20.68% in Q1 2023. The Oil sector contributed 6.21% to the total real GDP in Q1 2023, down from the figure recorded in the corresponding period of 2022 and up from the preceding quarter, where it contributed 6.63% and 4.34% respectively.
The non-oil sector grew by 2.77% in real terms during the reference quarter (Q1 2023). This rate was lower by 3.30% compared to the rate recorded in the same quarter of 2022 and 1.67% points lower than the fourth quarter of 2022. This sector was driven in the first quarter of 2023 mainly by Information and Communication.
Financial and Insurance; Trade; Manufacturing (Food, Beverage & Tobacco); Construction; and Transportation & Storage (Road Transport), accounting for positive GDP growth.
In real terms, the non-oil sector contributed 93.79% to the nation’s GDP in the first quarter of 2023, higher than the share recorded in the first quarter of 2022 which was 93.37% and lower than the fourth quarter of 2022 recorded as 95.66%.
