Despite rising inflation in the country, which as of October was 26.72 percent, the Nation’s economy grew by 2.54 percent in the third quarter of this year. The non-oil Sector Dominates With 94.52%. This is higher than the 2.51 percent growth in Q2 and 2.25 percent in the same period last year. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its third quarter (Q3) 2023 GDP report released yesterday, said the Gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 2.54 percent (year-on-year) in real terms in Q3 2023 was driven mainly by the services sector, which recorded an increase of 3.99 percent and contributed 52.70 percent to the aggregate GDP.
NBS said the agriculture sector grew by 1.30 percent, from the growth of 1.34 percent recorded in the third quarter of 2022, and that the growth of the industry sector was 0.46 percent, an improvement from -8.00 percent recorded in Q3 of 2022.
“In terms of share of the GDP, agriculture and the industry sectors contributed less to the aggregate GDP in Q3 compared to the third quarter of 2022,” the report said.
The poor of the agriculture and industry sectors can be attributed to two main factors: insecurity and rising inflation. Insecurity has resulted in numerous farmers abandoning their farms, while the high cost of production caused by inflation has compelled many manufacturing firms to either shut down or reduce their production capacity.
NBS disclosed that the nominal GDP for Q3 2023 stood at N60.66 trillion while the real GDP was N19.44 trillion. Nominal GDP and real GDP both quantify the total value of all goods produced in a country in a year. However, real GDP is adjusted for inflation while nominal GDP is not. NBS said: “In the quarter under review, aggregate GDP stood at N60.66 trillion in nominal terms. This performance is higher when compared to the third quarter of 2022, which recorded aggregate GDP of N52,255,809.62, indicating a year-on-year nominal growth of 16.08 per cent.”
The non-oil sector witnessed a 2.75 percent growth in real terms during the third quarter of 2023, as reported by the NBS. However, this growth rate was 1.52 percentage points lower than the same quarter in 2022, and 0.84 percentage points lower than the second quarter of 2023.
“This sector was driven in the third quarter of 2023 mainly by Information and Communication (Telecommunication); Financial and Insurance (Financial Institutions); Agriculture (Crop production); Trade; Construction; and Real Estate, accounting for positive GDP growth,” the report said.
“In real terms, the non-oil sector contributed 94.52 per cent to the nation’s GDP in the third quarter of 2023,” the report said.
It said this is higher than the share recorded in the third quarter of 2022, which was 94.34 per cent and lower than the 94.66 per cent recorded in the second quarter of 2023. The oil sector contributed only 5.48 percent to the total real GDP in Q3 2023, which has the most contribution to the GDP, down from the figure recorded in the corresponding period of 2022 and up from the preceding quarter, where it contributed 5.66 per cent and 5.34 per cent respectively.
The report indicates that the oil sector experienced a decline in real growth of -0.85% (year-on-year) in Q3 2023. However, this represents an improvement of 21.83 percentage points compared to the rate recorded in the same quarter of 2022, which was -22.67%.
“Growth also increased by 12.58 per cent points when compared to Q2 2023 which was –13.43 percent,” the report said. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the oil sector recorded a growth rate of 12.47 percent in Q3 2023,” the report added.
According to the report, the nation’s average daily oil production reached 1.45 million barrels per day (mbpd) in third quarter of 2023. This is a 0.25mbpd increase compared to the average daily output of 1.20mbpd in the same quarter of 2022, and a 0.23mbpd increase compared to the production volume of 1.22mbpd in the second quarter of 2023.
