Nigeria’s annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by expenditure grew in real terms by 0.82 percent year-on-year in 2017, representing a significant improvement compared to a decline of -1.58 percent decline recorded in real GDP growth rate in the preceding year.
The expenditure approach measures the final uses of the produced output as the sum of Final consumption, Gross Capital Formation and Exports less Imports
According to the latest report on the nation’s GDP rate by expenditure published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) today, the Real Household Consumption and Government Consumption Expenditures generally declined in 2017 at –0.99 per cent but improved compared to the -5.71 percent recorded in 2016.
The report indicated that despite the modest growth in the GDP rate, the domestic demand was still weak.
A further analysis of the report showed that net exports grew significantly in real terms in the year under review, a growth which was mainly driven by the strong performance in Q3,2017. The growth rate of exports’ net value was, however, slower than the preceding year’s rate of 22 percent.
This is even as the Bureau reported that that in the year under review, the National Disposable Income declined by 1.52 percent due largely to the continuous decline in the largest component – Operating Surplus – which recorded a negative annual growth rate of –2.11 percent.
However, the official statistics producing and reporting agency, noted that Compensation of Employees performed strongly in 2017 with an 11.14 percent annual growth rate compared to the – 9.68 percent recorded in the preceding year. The Bureau stated that despite the positive trend, the expansion in this category was not enough to stem a negative.
In summary, the NBS stated that Nigeria’s economy exited the recession and slowly started its recovery in the second quarter of 2017, adding that although improvements in domestic consumption and business environment are still necessary to further stimulate growth.
The agency stated that surplus in merchandise trade in the year under review contributed significantly to overall economic growth and recovery.
By global reporting standards, a nation’s GDP can be derived as the value of all goods and services available for final uses and export. GDP at market prices includes net taxes on products; taxes are subtracted to obtain basic price GDP.
