Nigeria’s Economy Expands by 2.28% in Q3, 2019

• Nigeria’s Economy Expands by 2.28% in Q3, 2019

Nigeria’s economy expanded at 2.28 percent year-on-year in the third quarter (Q3) of 2019, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Africa’s largest economy recorded a 0.47 percent increase in Gross Domestic Product when compared with the 1.81 percent achieved in the same period of 2018.

This was 0.17 percent higher than the 2.12 percent filed in the second quarter of 2019 when the economy grew at 2.12 percent and the second-largest growth rate since 2016.

According to the report, aggregate GDP rose by 13.30 percent from N33,368,049.14 million attained in the same period of 2018 to N37,806,924.41 million in nominal terms.

Oil Sector

The oil sector grew by 6.49 percent year-on-year in the third quarter, representing an increase of 9.40 percent when compared to the third quarter of 2018 but 0.68 percent lower than the 7.2 percent growth recorded in the second quarter of 2019.

On a quarterly basis, the sector expanded by 18.88 percent in the third quarter, largely due to the increase in crude oil production.

Nigeria’s crude oil production rose by 0.2 million barrels per day (mbpd) from 2.02mbpd in the second quarter of 2019 to 2.04 mbpd in the Q3, 2019, its highest in over three years. This was 0.1mbpd higher than the same period of 2018 when 1.94mbpd was recorded.

The sector contribution to total GDP rose from 8.98 percent in the third quarter to 9.77 percent in the third quarter.

Non-Oil Sector

Nigeria’s non-oil sector, the largest part of the economy, expanded at 1.85 percent in real terms in the third quarter. This was 0.48 percent lower than what was attained in the same period of 2018 and 0.20 percent higher than the second quarter of 2019.

The Information and Communication industry that saw the likes of MTN Nigeria, Airtel, etc listed this on the Nigerian Stock Exchange this year bolstered the sector contribution to national growth, still growing below expectations.

Other key drivers were Agriculture, Mining and Quarrying, Transportation and Storage, and Manufacturing.

The sector contributed 90.23 percent to GDP in the quarter, slightly lower than the 90.62 percent recorded in the corresponding period of 2018 and 91.02 percent filed in the second quarter of 2019.

Despite Federal Government efforts at diversifying the economy, the non-oil sector grew at just 1.85 percent in the third quarter while the oil sector that contributed 9.77 percent expanded at 6.5 percent during the same period. Suggesting that government efforts are yet to crystalise or have a meaningful impact outside the oil sector and also that the oil sector remains Nigeria’s source of growth.