Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria’s economy grew by 2.74 per cent in 2023, lower than the 3.1 per cent posted in 2022.
This was disclosed by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its latest Nigeria Gross Domestic Product Q4 2023 Report released on Thursday.
While the country’s economic growth was lower than the preceding year, it grew by 3.46 per cent (year-on-year) in real terms in the fourth quarter of 2023. This growth rate is lower than the 3.52 per cent recorded in the fourth quarter of 2022 and higher than the third quarter of 2023 growth of 2.54 per cent.
The performance of the GDP in the fourth quarter of 2023 was driven mainly by the Services sector, which recorded a growth of 3.98 per cent and contributed 56.6 per cent to the aggregate GDP.
The agriculture sector grew by 2.1 per cent, from the growth of 2.05 per cent recorded in the fourth quarter of 2022. The growth of the industry sector was 3.9 per cent, an improvement from -0.94 per cent recorded in the fourth quarter of 2022.
In terms of share of the GDP, industry, and the services sectors contributed more to the aggregate GDP in the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to the fourth quarter of 2022.
In the quarter under review, aggregate GDP stood at N65.9 trillion in nominal terms.
This is higher by 16.1 per cent when compared to the fourth quarter of 2022 which recorded aggregate GDP of N56.8 trillion.
The Nigerian economy is based on growth in the oil sector and the non-oil sector. For the oil sector, Nigeria’s oil sector growth stood at -2.22 per cent in 2023 compared to -19.2 per cent in 2022 while the non-oil sector growth stood at 3.0 per cent relative to 4.8 per cent recorded in the previous year.
The nation in the fourth quarter of 2023 recorded an average daily oil production of 1.55 million barrels per day, higher than the daily average production of 1.34 million barrels per day recorded in the same quarter of 2022 by 0.21 million barrels per day and higher than the third quarter of 2023 production volume of 1.45 million barrels per day by 0.10 million barrels per day.
The oil sector contributed 4.7 per cent to the total real GDP in Q4 2023, up from the figure recorded in the corresponding period of 2022 and down from the preceding quarter, where it contributed 4.3 per cent and 5.5 per cent respectively.
The real growth of the oil sector was 12.1 per cent (year-on-year) in Q4 2023, indicating an increase of 25.5 per cent points relative to the rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2022 (-13.4 per cent).
Growth also increased by 12.9 per cent points when compared to Q3 2023 which was –0.9 per cent. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the oil sector recorded a growth rate of -3.8 per cent in Q4 2023.
On its part, the non-oil sector grew by 3.1 per cent in real terms during the reference quarter (Q4 2023). This rate was lower by 1.4 per cent points compared to the rate recorded in the same quarter of 2022 and 0.3 per cent points higher than the third quarter of 2023.
In real terms, the non-oil sector contributed 95.3 per cent to the nation’s GDP in the fourth quarter of 2023, lower than the share recorded in the fourth quarter of 2022 which was 95.7 per cent and higher than the third quarter of 2023 recorded as 94.5 per cent.
