Nigeria’s GDP growth slows to 2.51% over ‘challenging economic conditions’

Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 2.51 percent in the second quarter (Q2) of 2023, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The growth rate is lower than the 3.54 percent recorded in the same quarter last year.

In the report, released on Friday, the NBS attributed the 2023 Q2 growth rate to the challenging economic conditions being experienced.

The bureau said the growth rate was driven by the services sector.

The services sector, according to NBS, improved by 4.42 percent and contributed 58.42 percent to the aggregate GDP, while the agriculture and the industry sector underperformed.

“The agriculture sector grew by 1.50 percent, an improvement from the growth of 1.20 percent recorded in the second quarter of 2022,” the report reads.

“The growth of the industry sector was -1.94 percent relative to -2.30 percent recorded in the second quarter of 2022.

“In terms of share to the GDP, agriculture, and the industry sectors contributed less to the aggregate GDP in the second quarter of 2023 compared to the second quarter of 2022.”

NBS said the nominal GDP for Q2 2023 stood at N52.1 trillion while the real GDP was N17.72 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.

“In the quarter under review, aggregate GDP stood at N52,103,927.13 million in nominal terms. This performance is higher when compared to the second quarter of 2022 which recorded aggregate GDP of N45,004,520.89 million, indicating a year-on-year nominal growth of 15.77 percent,” the report added.

OIL SECTOR VS NON-OIL SECTOR

The report also said Nigeria recorded an average daily oil production of 1.22 million barrels per day (bpd) in Q2 of 2023.

This is 0.22 million bpd lower than the daily average out of 1.43 million bpd recorded in the same quarter of 2022, the bureau said.

In addition, the country’s production volume stood at 1.51 million bpd in the first quarter (Q1) of 2023 — lower than Q2 by 0.29 million bpd.

On the other hand, the agency said the non-oil sector grew by 3.58 percent in real terms during the reference quarter (Q2 2023).

“This rate was lower by 1.19 percent compared to the rate recorded in the same quarter of 2022 and 0.81 percent higher than the first quarter of 2023,” the NBS said.

“In real terms, the non-oil sector contributed 94.66 percent to the nation’s GDP in the second quarter of 2023, higher than the share recorded in the second quarter of 2022 which was 93.67 percent.”

NBS added that the quarter’s performance is higher, compared to the first quarter of 2023 when the sector’s contribution stood at 93.79 percent.