The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Nigeria fell to 2.98 percent, a decrease from the 3.4 percent rate in the fourth quarter of 2023.
The services sector primarily drove the GDP’s performance in the first quarter of 2024, according to the most recent data report from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) that Persecondnews obtained.
The data released on Friday showed that Nigeria’s growth rate was higher than the 2.31 percent recorded in the first quarter of 2023.
The report states: “The performance of the GDP in the first quarter of 2024 was driven mainly by the services sector, which recorded a growth of 4.32 percent and contributed 58.04 percent to the aggregate GDP.”
According to the report, the agriculture sector grew by 0.18 percent from the -0.90 percent recorded in the first quarter of 2023.
“The growth of the industry sector was 2.19 percent, an improvement from 0.31 percent recorded in the first quarter of 2023.
“In terms of share of the GDP, the services sector contributed more to the aggregate GDP in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the corresponding quarter of 2023.”
In a related development, the NBS has begun the process of rebasing Nigeria’s GDP and Consumer Price Index estimates, according to the Statistician-General of the Federation and NBS Chief Executive, Mr. Semiu Adeniran.
The United Nations Statistical Commission recommends this exercise every five years to reflect updated economic conditions.
This is the second rebasing exercise in nearly a decade, having last taken place in 2014.
At Thursday’s opening of a sensitization workshop for stakeholders on the GDP and CPI Rebasing Exercise in Abuja, Mr. Adeniran emphasised the importance of accurate and timely data in today’s rapidly changing and interconnected world.
The workshop seeks to engage critical stakeholders, solicit feedback, and ensure that the output meets the needs of all users, providing a more accurate picture of the economy.
The real growth of the oil sector in Q1 2024 was 5.70% year-on-year, marking an increase of 9.91 percentage points compared to the -4.21% recorded in the same quarter of 2023.
However, this growth decreased by 6.41 percentage points from Q4 2023, which was 12.11%.
The Nigerian economy has been broadly classified into the oil and non-oil sectors.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the oil sector achieved a growth rate of 13.77% in Q1 2024. The oil sector contributed 6.38% to the total real GDP in Q1 2024, up from 6.21% in the corresponding period of 2023 and 4.70% in the preceding quarter.
In real terms, the non-oil sector experienced 2.80% growth during Q1 2024.
This growth rate was 0.02 percentage points higher than the same quarter in 2023, but 0.28 percentage points lower than Q4 2023.
Key drivers in the first quarter of 2024 included financial and insurance (financial institutions), information and communication (telecommunications), agriculture (crop production), trade, and manufacturing (food, beverage, and tobacco), all contributing to positive GDP growth.
In real terms, the non-oil sector contributed 93.62% to the nation’s GDP in Q1 2024, which was slightly lower than the 93.79% recorded in Q1 2023 and the 95.30% recorded in Q4 2023.
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