By Dipo Olowookere
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Friday announced that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Nigeria grew year-on-year by 2.28 percent in the third quarter of 2019.
According to the stats office, when compared with the third quarter of 2018, which recorded a growth of 1.81 percent, the real GDP growth rate increased by 0.47 percent.
Relative to the second quarter of 2019, which recorded a growth rate of 2.12 percent, the Q3 2019 figures appreciated by 0.17 percent.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, however, real GDP grew by 9.23 percent, with the Q3 2019 growth representing the second highest quarterly rate recorded since 2016.
An analysis of the report released by the NBS today by Business Post showed that the oil sector contributed 9.77 percent to total real GDP in Q3 2019, up from figures recorded in the corresponding period of 2018 as well as the preceding quarter, when it accounted for 9.38 percent and 8.98 percent respectively.
The sector grew by 6.49 percent year-on-year in Q3 2019, indicating an increase of 9.40 percent relative to rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2018. The rate was lower by –0.68 percent when compared with Q2 2019, which was 7.17 percent.
On the other hand, the non-oil sector contributed 90.23 percent to the nation’s GDP, slightly lower than the share recorded in the third quarter of 2018 (90.62 percent), and in the second quarter of 2019 (91.02 percent).
The sector 1.85 percent in real terms during the reference quarter. This is –0.48 percent points lower when compared to the rate recorded in the same quarter of 2018 but 0.20 percent higher than the second quarter of 2019.
In the third quarter of this year, the aggregate GDP stood at N37.807 trillion in nominal terms, higher than N33.368 trillion recorded in the same period of 2018, representing a year-on-year nominal growth rate of 13.30 percent.
The stats office said the growth rate is, however, lower relative to rates recorded in the third quarter of 2018 by –0.28 percent points and the rates recorded in the preceding quarter by –0.71 percent points.
Adedapo Adesanya