Nigeria records 2.38% GDP growth in Q4, boost for Buhari

The National Bureau of Statistics(NBS) in its latest report said Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product(GDP) in the fourth quarter grew by 2.38 per cent, a boost for President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election campaign.

The Nigerian economy slipped into recession in 2016, but has posted consistent growth since then.

According to the NBS, the performance of the economy represents an increase of 0.27 per cent points when compared to the fourth quarter of 2017 which recorded a growth rate of 2.11 per cent.

The figure also indicates a rise of 0.55% points when compared with the growth rate recorded in Q3 2018.

On a quarter on quarter basis, real GDP growth was 5.31%.

“The fourth quarter growth performance implies that real GDP grew at an annual growth rate of 1.93% in 2018, compared to 0.82% recorded in 2017, an increase of 1.09% points”, NBS said.

During the quarter, aggregate nominal GDP stood at N35.23 trillion, which is higher than N31.275 trillion recorded in Q4 2017, a nominal growth rate of 12.65%.

For 2018, nominal GDP was therefore recorded at N127.76 trillion representing a nominal growth rate of 12.36 per cent compared to N113.71 trillion recorded in 2017.

However, during the fourth quarter average daily oil production stood at 1.91 million barrels per day (mbpd), 400,000 barrels lower to the 1.95 mbpd recorded in the same quarter of 2017. The oil production figure for the quarter is also lower to the 1.94mbpd in Q3 of 2018.

In contrast, the non-oil sector grew by 2.70% in real terms during the fourth quarter of 2018.

This is 1.25% points higher than the growth rate recorded in Q4 2017, and 0.38% points higher than the growth rate recorded in Q3 2018.

On an annual basis, the non-oil sector recorded a growth rate of 2.00% in 2018, performing considerably better than 0.47% seen in 2017.

The key performing activities during the quarter were
Information and communication, Transportation & Storage, Arts & Entertainment, Agriculture and Manufacturing.

“The Non-Oil sector contributed 92.94% to real GDP in the fourth quarter of 2018, slightly higher than the
92.65% seen in Q4 2017”, NBS said.

For 2018, annual contribution was recorded at 91.40% against 91.33% in 2017.

According to NBS, key performing activities on an annual basis include transport, information, Communication,
Electricity, water, as well as arts and Entertainment.

(NAN)