Size of Nigeria’s economy to increase as NBS moves to rebase GDP

The National Bureau of Statistics says it has begun the national business sample survey (NBSS) as part of efforts to rebase the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

Ichedi Sunday Joel, NBS head of public affairs and international relations, says the agency will rebase the GDP from the 2010 base year currently been used to 2018/2019.

GDP rebasing is the process of replacing old base year price structure in compiling volume measures of GDP with a new or more recent base year, usually at five years average interval.

It is expected that the size of Nigeria’s GDP will expand after the rebasing is completed.

NBS carried out the last rebasing exercise in 2014 and this led to an 89 percent increase in the size of the economy as new sectors and activities were measured.

The sub-sectors of the economy also increased from 33 to 46 and Nigeria became Africa’s second-largest economy after South Africa.

It has since overtaken South Africa to become Africa’s largest economy.

Ichedi said the NBSS would also provide sectorial data at national and state levels, determine the structure of the Nigerian economy, determine the sectors that drive the Nigerian economy and those that require government intervention to improve them and serve as a benchmark for subsequent commercial and industrial sector statistics surveys.

“The survey covers the thirty-six (36) states of the federation, including FCT. In all, seventeen sectors of the Nigerian economy will be covered during the survey exercise,” the statement read.

“Already, data collection on the survey by NBS staff has commenced with lodgments of questionnaires in the selected establishments.”

Nigeria’s GDP declined by 6.10 percent (year-on-year) in the second quarter of 2020 and the economy slipped into its second recession in four years as a result of a slowdown in economic activities as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and reduced revenue due to low oil prices.