Nigeria’s Economic Growth Slows to 2.74%
Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth slowed down to 2.74% in 2023, according to data released by the statistics office on Thursday. In 2022, the economy had expanded by 3.10%.
However, details released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product grew by 3.46% in real terms in the fourth quarter of 2023. The statistics office said in the report that this growth rate is lower than the 3.52% recorded in the fourth quarter of 2022 and higher than the third quarter of 2023 growth of 2.54%.
The performance of the GDP in the fourth quarter of 2023 was driven mainly by the services sector, which recorded a growth of 3.98% and contributed 56.55% to the aggregate GDP, the statistics office said.
Further details obtained indicate that the agriculture sector grew by 2.10%, from the growth of 2.05% recorded in the fourth quarter of 2022. The growth of the industry sector was 3.86%, an improvement from -0.94% recorded in the fourth quarter of 2022. In terms of share of the GDP, industry, and the services sectors contributed more to the aggregate GDP in the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to the fourth quarter of 2022.
On an annual basis, GDP grew by 2.74% in 2023 relative to 3.10% in 2022. In the quarter under review, aggregate GDP stood at N65,908,258.59 million in nominal terms. This performance is higher when compared to the fourth quarter of 2022 which recorded an aggregate GDP of N56,757,889.95 million, indicating a year-on-year nominal growth of 16.12%.
In Q4 2023, Nigeria recorded an average daily oil production of 1.55 million barrels per day (mbpd), higher than the daily average production of 1.34mbpd recorded in the same quarter of 2022 by 0.21mbpd and higher than the third quarter of 2023 production volume of 1.45 mbpd by 0.10mbpd.
The real growth of the oil sector was 12.11% at the time, indicating an increase of 25.50% points relative to the rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2022 with -13.38% negative growth. NBS said growth also increased by 12.96% points when compared to Q3 2023 which was –0.85%. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the oil sector recorded a growth rate of -3.81% in Q4 2023.
On an annual basis, the oil sector growth stood at -2.22% in 2023 compared to -19.22% in 2022. The Oil sector contributed 4.70% to the total real GDP in Q4 2023, up from the figure recorded in the corresponding period of 2022 and down from the preceding quarter, where it contributed 4.34% and 5.48% respectively.
Elsewhere, the non-oil sector grew by 3.07% in real terms in Q4-2023, lower by 1.37% points compared to the rate recorded in the same quarter of 2022 and 0.32% points higher than the third quarter of 2023.
This sector was driven in the fourth quarter of 2023 mainly by Financial and Insurance (Financial Institutions); Information and Communication (Telecommunication); Agriculture (Crop production); Trade; Construction; Manufacturing (Food, Beverage, and Tobacco) and Real Estate, accounting for positive GDP growth.
On an annual basis, the non-oil sector growth in 2023 stood at 3.04% relative to 4.84% recorded in 2022. In real terms, the non-oil sector contributed 95.30% to the nation’s GDP in the fourth quarter of 2023, lower than the share recorded in the fourth quarter of 2022 which was 95.66% and higher than the third quarter of 2023 recorded as 94.52%. #Nigeria’s Economic Growth Slows to 2.74%
