Nigeria’s Economy Sustains Growth, Expands By 1.81% in Q3

• Nigeria’s Economy Sustains Growth, Expands By 1.81% in Q3

Nigeria’s economy sustained growth in the third quarter of 2018 despite growing uncertainty ahead of the national election.

The economy grew at 1.81 percent year-on-year in the third quarter, according to the National Bureau of Statistics report released on Monday. The Gross Domestic Product was 0.64 percent higher than the 1.17 percent recorded in the same quarter of 2017 and 0.31 percent better than the 1.50 percent growth rate filed in the second quarter of 2018.

The aggregate GDP rose from N29,377,674.03 million in nominal terms in Q3 2017 to N33,368,049.14 million in Q3 2018, representing a 13.58 percent increase in growth.

Oil Sector

The oil sector of Africa’s largest economy contracted by 2.91 percent year-on-year in Q3 2018, that is a 25.94 percent points lower than the corresponding quarter of 2017. However, growth increased by 1.04 percent points when compared to the -3.95 percent recorded in the second quarter of 2018.

On a quarterly basis, the oil sector grew at 19.64 percent rate in the third quarter. Partly due to the surge in global oil prices and moderate crude oil output. National average daily oil production stood at 1.94 million barrels per day during the quarter, higher than the 1.84mbpd achieved in Q2 2018 and lower than 2.02mbpd recorded in the same quarter of 2017.

The oil sector contributed 9.38 percent to the national GDP in Q3 2018, down from Q3 2017 and up when compared to Q2 2018, where the sector contributed 9.84 percent and 8.55 percent, respectively.

Non-Oil Sector

The largest sector of the economy, the non-oil sector expanded by 2.32 percent during the quarter under reviewed. Higher by 3.08 percent point when compared to the rate filed in the same quarter of 2017 and 0.28 percent better than the second quarter of 2018.

The sector was driven mainly by Information and communication; other drivers were
Agriculture, Manufacturing, Trade, Transportation and Storage and Professional, Scientific and Technical Services. In real terms, the Non-Oil sector contributed 90.62 percent to the total GDP, higher than the 90.16 percent contributed in the third quarter of 2017 and lower than the second quarter of 2018 recorded as 91.45 percent.