FG Commences Process to Rebase Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product

The Federal Government on Wednesday announced it has commenced the process to rebase Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Gross domestic product (GDP) is the value of all the finished goods and services produced in a particular country at a specific period of time.

GDP measures the healthiness of an economy within a specific period. Therefore, it is used by investors and businesses to assess the state of an economy.

Also, rebasing the GDP means updating the basis for evaluation and computing with new and updated constant price estimates.

In a bid to update Nigeria’s GDP parameters, the National Bureau of Statistics said it has completed the listing of establishments, a component of the National Business Sample Census and the National Business Sample Survey of all establishments.

Ichedi Sunday, a spokesperson of the NBS, explained that “the objectives of the National Business Sample Survey include to rebase the Gross National Product from 2010 to 2018/2019.”

This also includes “to 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.”

He further explained that others would be used as a benchmark for subsequent commercial and industrial sector statistics surveys.

According to NBS, the completed survey covers the 36 states of the federation, including the Federal Capital Territory.

It said, “In all, 17 sectors of the Nigerian economy will be covered during the survey exercise. Already, data collection on the survey by NBS staff has commenced with lodgments of questionnaires in the selected establishments.”

“NBS appeals to the selected establishments to provide the necessary information for the survey as their participation is germane for the successful completion of the survey exercise.”