Nigeria’s Economy Expands by 2.55% in Q4 2019

• Nigeria’s Economy Expands by 2.55% in Q4 2019

Nigeria’s economy grew by 2.55 percent year-on-year in the final quarter of 2019 in real terms, according to the report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday.

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 2.27 percent in 2019 from 1.91 percent recorded a year ago.

“Overall, this resulted in an annual 2019 real growth rate of 2.27 percent, compared to 1.91 percent in 2018. Quarter on quarter, real GDP growth was 5.59 percent,” the report stated.

Aggregate GDP rose from N35.23 trillion recorded in the final quarter of 2018 to N39.57 trillion in the same period of 2019.

At 2.55 percent, the final quarter of 2019 represents the highest quarterly growth performance since the 2016 recession.

Oil Sector

The nation’s oil sector expanded by 6.36 percent in the final quarter, 0.13 percent lower than the 6.49 percent recorded in the third quarter of 2019 and 7.98 percent higher than the 1.62 percent decline recorded in the same period of 2018.

Accordingly, the oil sector contributed 7.32 percent to the total economy in the final quarter, higher than the 7.06 percent filed in the corresponding quarter and lower than the 9.77 percent of the third quarter of the same year.

The daily oil production stood at 2 million barrels per day (mbpd) during the quarter, 0.09 mbpd higher when compared to 1.91mbpd recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2018 and 0.04mbpd lower than the 2.04 mbpd recorded in the third quarter of 2019.

Non-oil Sector

The sector expanded at 2.26 percent in the quarter under review, 0.44 percent lower than the same period of 2018 and 0.42 higher than the third quarter of the same year.

The oil sector contributed 92.68 percent to national GDP in the fourth quarter of 2019, lower than the 92.94 percent recorded in the same period of 2018 but higher than 90.23 percent achieved in the third quarter.

On a yearly basis, the sector contributed 91.22 percent to the economy, 0.19 percent lower when compared to 91.41 percent in 2018.

Growth in the nonoil sector was attributed to Information and Communication (Telecommunications), Agriculture (Crop Production), Financial and Insurance Services (Financial Institutions), and Manufacturing.