Nigeria’s GDP Rises by 2.01% in Q1 2019 as Non-Oil Contributes 90.86%

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday said the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rate of Nigeria increased by 2.01 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2019.

This is higher than the 1.89 percent growth rate the Africa’s largest economy recorded in the same quarter of last year.

However, relative to the preceding quarter, the fourth quarter of 2018, the real GDP growth rate declined by -0.38 percent.

According to the stats office, the general elections held across the country in the first quarter of this year may have reflected in the strongest first quarter performance observed since 2015.

The NBS said aggregate GDP in the quarter under consideration stood at N31.794 trillion in nominal terms. This aggregate was higher than in the first quarter of 2018 which recorded N28.439 trillion, representing a year on year nominal growth rate of 11.80 percent. The aggregate was, however, lower than in the preceding quarter of N35.231 trillion, by -9.75 percent.

The nominal GDP growth rate in Q1 2019 was higher than the rate recorded in Q1 2018 by 2.54 percent.

During the period under review, real GDP growth in the oil sector was -2.40 percent year-on-year in Q1 2019, indicating a decrease by -16.43 percent points relative to the rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2018. Growth decreased by -0.79 percent points when compared with Q4 2018 which was -1.62 percent.

Quarter-on-Quarter, the oil sector recorded a growth rate of 11.60 percent in Q1 2019. The Oil sector contributed 9.14 percent to total real GDP in Q1 2019, down from figures recorded in the corresponding period of 2018 but up compared to the preceding quarter, where it contributed 9.55 percent and 7.06 percent respectively.

The non-oil sector grew by 2.47 percent in real terms during the reference quarter. This was 1.72 percent points higher compared to the rate recorded in the same quarter of 2018 but -0.23 percent points lower than the fourth quarter of 2018. During the quarter, the sector was driven mainly by Information and communication technology.

Other drivers were Agriculture, Transportation and Storage, Trade and Construction.

In real terms, the non-oil sector contributed 90.86 percent to the nation’s GDP, higher than recorded in the first quarter of 2018 (90.45 percent) but lower than the fourth quarter of 2018 (92.94 percent).