Nigeria’s economic growth rate falls by 0.68% in Q1

Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which measures the size of the economy, grew by 1.87% in the first quarter of 2020, 0.68% lower than the rate of growth in the fourth quarter of last year, which stood at 1.55%, the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Monday morning.

However, Nigeria’s GDP contracted by 0.23% in Q1 compared to its Q1 2019’s performance, which saw the economy enlarge by 2.1% with the statistics office citing the sweeping global ramifications of the coronavirus outbreak, oil crash and restricted international trade as grounds for the growth reversal.

Aggregate GDP came to over N35.647 trillion in nominal terms in the Q1 2020 compared to the N31.824 trillion recorded in the corresponding period of 2019 equivalent to a 12.01% nominal growth rate year on year, Nigerian Gross Domestic Product Report Q1 2020 stated.

“Relative to the first quarter of 2019, the nominal growth rate was higher by 0.11% points but lower than the preceding quarter by –0.32% points,” it said, adding that “the oil sector recorded a real GDP growth rate of 5.06% (year-on-year) in Q1 2020 indicating an increase of 6.51% points relative to the rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2019.”

Read also: NBS lists Lagos as Nigeria’s most economically vibrant state with an IGR equal to 26 states’

When set beside that of the fourth quarter of 2019, which stood at 6.36%, the growth rate of the oil industry dipped by 1.30%. Oil contributed 9.50% to Nigeria’s aggregate real GDP in the first quarter of this year.

Meanwhile, the non-oil sector’s real GDP grew by 1.55% but was 0.93% lower than the rate reported in Q1 2019 and 0.72% weaker than that of the fourth quarter of 2019.

The bulk of sector’s contributions came from Information and Communication (Telecommunications), Financial and Insurance (Financial Institutions), Agriculture (Crop Production), Mining and Quarrying (Crude Petroleum & Natural Gas), and Construction, the document revealed.

As far as real GDP is concerned, the non-oil sector accounted for 90.5% of Nigeria’s economy in the first quarter of 2020.

“Activities that witnessed weaker performance relative to Q1 2019 include Quarrying, Road transport, Accommodation and Food services as well as Real Estate,” the NBS said.

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