Nigeria’s GDP grew by 3.46% in Q4 2023, says NBS

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), says Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 3.46 percent in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2023.

The growth rate, the data bureau said, is lower than the 3.52 percent recorded in the same quarter in 2022 and higher than the 2.54 percent recorded in the third quarter (Q3) of 2023.

NBS disclosed this in its GDP report for Q4, released on Thursday.

The bureau said the growth rate was mainly driven by the services sector, which recorded a 3.98 percent and contributed 56.55 percent to the aggregate GDP.

“The agriculture sector grew by 2.10%, from the growth of 2.05% recorded in the fourth quarter of 2022,” the NBS said.

“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.”

On an annual basis, GDP grew by 2.74 percent in 2023 relative to 3.10 percent in 2022, the NBS said.

The statistics body further said in Q4, the country’s nominal GDP stood at N65.9 trillion — higher than the 60.5 trillion recorded in Q3 2023.

NBS added that the performance is also higher relative to the fourth quarter of 2022 which recorded an aggregate GDP of N56.7 trillion, indicating a year-on-year nominal growth of 16.12 percent.

OIL PRODUCTION HITS 1.5M BARRELS IN Q4 2023

The report said in the quarter under review, Nigeria recorded an average daily oil production of 1.55 million barrels per day (mbpd).

This is higher than the daily average production of 1.34mbpd recorded in the same quarter of 2022 by 0.21mbpd and higher than the Q3 2023 production volume of 1.45mbpd by 0.10mbpd.

“The real growth of the oil sector was 12.11% (year-on-year) in Q4 2023, indicating an increase of 25.50% points relative to the rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2022 (-13.38%). Growth also increased by 12.96% points when compared to Q3 2023 which was -0.85%,” the bureau said.

“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.”

‘NON-OIL SECTOR CONTRIBUTED 95.3% TO Q4 2023 GDP’

NBS said the non-oil sector grew by 3.07 percent in real terms during the reference quarter.

However, the firm said the rate was lower by 1.37 percent points compared to the rate recorded in the same quarter of 2022 and 0.32 percent points
higher than the rate of Q3 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,” NBS said.

“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.”

The bureau added that the non-oil sector’s performance was lower than the share recorded in the Q4 in 2022 which was 95.66 percent; and higher than the Q3 2023 result recorded at 94.52 percent.