By Dipo Olowookere
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Nigeria increased year-on-year by 4.03 per cent in the third quarter of 2021, a report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Thursday has revealed.
This is the fourth consecutive quarter that the nation’s economy is recording an expansion since it relapsed into a recession.
In the second quarter of 2020, the country’s GDP contracted by 6.10 per cent as a result of a COVID-19-induced lockdown, which also affected the globe.
In the third quarter of last year, the economy slumped into an economic crisis after it retreated by 3.62 per cent, but it bounced back in the fourth quarter of the year when it grew by 0.11 per cent.
Business Post reports that in the first quarter of this year, the GDP sustained its growth with a 0.51 per cent increase and jumped by 5.01 per cent in the second quarter of the year.
According to the report released by the stats office, the 4.03 per cent growth in real terms in the third quarter of 2021 showed “a sustained positive growth over the last four quarters since the recession witnessed in 2020.”
The NBS stated that in the quarter under review, aggregate GDP stood at N45.113 trillion in nominal terms, higher than the N39.090 trillion recorded in the third quarter of 2020, indicating a year-on-year nominal growth rate of 15.41 per cent.
The nominal GDP growth rate in Q3 2021 was higher relative to 3.39 per cent growth recorded in the third quarter of 2020 as well as the 14.99 per cent growth recorded in the preceding quarter, it further stated.
In real GDP terms, the aggregate GDP stood at N18.846 trillion in the period under consideration, higher than the aggregate GDP of N18.753 trillion.
In the third quarter of 2021, the oil sector contributed 7.49 per cent to total real GDP in Q3 2021, down from the 8.73 per cent in the same period of last year but higher than the 7.42 per cent in the second quarter of this year.
In the period, the average daily oil production was 1.57 million barrels per day (mbpd), lower than the 1.67mbpd recorded in the same quarter of 2020 by 0.10mbpd and lower than the second quarter 2021 production volume of 1.61mbpd by 0.05mbpd.
On the flip side, the non-oil sector contributed 92.51 per cent to the nation’s GDP in the third quarter of 2021, higher than 91.27 per cent in the corresponding quarter of 2021 but lower than 92.58 per cent of the second quarter of 2021.
The stats office stated in the report that last quarter, the oil sector contracted by 10.73 per cent, while the non-oil sector grew by 5.44 per cent and was the major driver of the growth achieved in the period.
