Nigeria’s economy falls to 2.74% in 2023 despite 3.46% growth in Q4, says NBS

Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fell to 2.74% in 2023, a slight deceleration from the 3.10% growth rate experienced in 2022, fresh data by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released on Thursday, has shown.

This represents the slowest growth since 2020 when the economy contracted by –1.92% due to the pandemic.

However, for Q4 2023, the economy experienced a growth of 3.46% on a year-on-year basis. This rate of expansion signifies a slight decrease from the 3.52% growth observed in Q4 of 2022, yet it marks an improvement over the 2.54% growth rate seen in Q3 of 2023.

The primary driver of this economic growth in the final quarter of 2023 was the Services sector, which not only grew by 3.98% but also contributed significantly, accounting for 56.55% of the total GDP.

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Meanwhile, the Agriculture sector also saw a modest increase in its growth rate, moving from 2.05% in the fourth quarter of the previous year to 2.10% in the same quarter of 2023.

In the fourth quarter of 2023, Nigeria’s industry sector witnessed a growth rate of 3.86%, marking a significant recovery from the -0.94% decline observed in the same period of 2022.

This growth contributed notably to the country’s aggregate GDP, with both the industry and services sectors increasing their contributions to the overall GDP in the fourth quarter of 2023, compared to their performance in the fourth quarter of 2022.

By Babajide Okeowo

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