Nigeria’s GDP Growth Slows to 2.51% Amid Economic Crisis

*Crude oil production drops to 1.22mbpd, amounting to 5.34% input to GDP in Q2 2023

James Emejo in Abuja

Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate slowed to 2.51 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter of this year (Q2 2023) compared to 3.54 per cent recorded in Q2 2022, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said yesterday.
This, however, represented an increase of 0.20 per cent compared to 2.31 per cent recorded in the first quarter of 2023.
According to the Second Quarter GDP Report released by the statistical agency, the major driver of the economy remained the services sector which recorded a growth of 4.42 per cent and contributed 58.42 per cent to the aggregate GDP.

Quarter-on-quarter, real GDP decreased by 0.17 per cent in Q2 2023, reflecting a low production level of economic activities compared to the preceding quarter.
According to the NBS, real GDP was estimated at N17.72 trillion in Q2, lower than N17.75 trillion in Q1 but higher than N17.28 trillion in Q2 2022.
“This highlighted the shortfall in production level in the quarter under review when compared with the previous quarters of Q1 2023 but higher than the corresponding quarter of Q2 2022,” the NBS added.

However, nominal GDP (current price) stood at N52.10 trillion in Q2, indicating a year-on-year nominal growth rate of 15.77 per cent. This was higher than the N45 trillion recorded in Q2 2022 and N51.24 trillion in the preceding quarter.
The average daily oil production declined to 1.22 million barrels per day (mbpd) in Q2 compared to 1.43mbpd recorded in the same quarter of 2022 by 0.22mbpd and also lower than the 1.51 mbpd in Q1 of 2023, the NBS added.

The oil sector contributed 5.34 per cent to GDP, down from 6.21 per cent in the preceding quarter as well as 6.33 per cent in Q2 2022.
On the other hand, the non-oil sector contributed 94.66 per cent to the economy in Q2, higher than 93.79 per cent in the preceding quarter and 93.67 per cent in Q2 2022.
The agricultural sector contributed 23.01 per cent to GDP, lower than 21.66 per cent in Q1 but higher than 23.24 per cent in the corresponding year. Industries contributed 18.56 per cent to growth.
The manufacturing sector contributed 8.62 per cent to GDP in Q2, lower than 10.13 per cent in the preceding quarter and 8.65 per cent in Q2 2022.
In addition, trade contributed 16.80 to GDP, in Q2, higher than 15.97 per cent recorded in Q1, but lower than 16.81 per cent recorded in the previous year.