By Modupe Gbadeyanka
In the third quarter of 2017, Nigeria recorded a growth in its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 1.4 percent, data released today by the National Bureau Statistics (NBS) revealed.
In the report obtained by Business Post, the stats office said this growth is the second consecutive positive growth since the emergence of the economy from recession in the second quarter of this year.
In the data released on Monday, NBS said, “This growth is 3.74 percent points higher than the rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2016 (–2.34 percent) and higher by 0.68 percent points from the rate recorded in the preceding quarter, which was revised to 0.72 percent from 0.55 percent (Q2 was revised following revisions by NNPC to oil output and hence led to revisions to Oil GDP).
It noted that quarter on quarter, real GDP growth was 8.97 percent year-to-date Real GDP growth stands at 0.43 percent.
In the quarter under review, aggregate GDP stood at N29,451,303.99 million in nominal terms higher when compared to N26,537,651.01 million in Q3 2016, resulting in a Nominal GDP growth of 10.98 percent.
“This growth is higher relative to growth recorded in Q3 2016 of 9.15 percent,” the stats office stated in the report today.
NBS further disclosed that in the period under review, oil production is estimated to have averaged 2.03 million barrels per day (mbpd), 0.15million barrels higher than the revised daily average production recorded in the second quarter of 2017 (revised from 1.84mbpd to 1.87mbpd).
Oil production during the quarter was higher by 0.42million barrels per day relative to the corresponding quarter in 2016, which recorded an output of 1.61mbpd.
It added that real growth of the oil sector was 25.89 percent (year-on-year) in Q3 2017. This represents an increase of 48.92 percent relative to rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2016.
Growth also increased by 22.36 percent when compared to Q2 2017 which was revised from 1.64 percent to 3.53 percent.
Quarter-on-Quarter, the oil sector grew by 21.10 percent in Q3 2017. As a share of the economy, the oil sector contributed 10.04 percent of total real GDP in Q3 2017, up from figures recorded in the corresponding period of 2016 and up from the preceding quarter, where it contributed 8.09 percent and 9.04 percent to GDP respectively.
It was also stated that the non-oil sector grew by -0.76 percent in real terms during the reference quarter. This is lower by -0.79 percent point compared to the rate recorded same quarter, 2016 and -1.20 percent point lower than in the second quarter of 2017.
This sector was driven this quarter mainly by Agriculture (Crop), Other services and Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply.
In real terms, the Non-Oil sector contributed 89.96 percent to the nation’s GDP, lower than the share recorded in the third quarter of 2016 (91.91 percent) and in the second quarter of 2017 (90.96 percent).
