The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Wednesday released the Nigerian Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Expenditure and Income Approach Report for the third and fourth quarters of 2018 and the first quarter of this year, which indicated that in the first quarter of 2019, real GDP grew by 2.10%.
The growth trend indicated a faster pace of expansion on a quarterly basis.
According to the agency, in the third and fourth quarters of 2018, Nigeria’s real GDP at basic prices grew by 1.81 % and 2.38% year on year respectively. The annual real GDP in 2018 grew by 1.91%, which was more than double the growth rate recorded in 2017 which stood at 0.82%.
The Bureau however noted that the Qi,2019 GDP rate was achieved at a period that coincided with the campaign and general elections season which may have supported the observed developments.
It reported that when compared with the corresponding quarters of 2017, real GDP rose by 0.64% points and 0.27% points respectively in Q3 and Q4 2018, and by 0.21% in Q1 2019.
On the Household Consumption Expenditure component of the GDP, the NBS stated that in Q3 and Q4 it grew at 7.90% and 9.26% in real terms, year on year, but slowed to 1.41% during the first quarter of 2019.
The NBS clarified further: “Government Consumption Expenditure continued to show improvement as growth was 34.78% in the third quarter and 68.48% in the fourth quarter of 2018, though its pace slowed significantly to 2.71% by the first quarter of 2019.
“Net Exports recorded negative growth, at –24.52% and –28.20% in real terms in the third and fourth quarters of 2018. In the first quarter of 2019, this moderated to –5.83% year on year compared to 2.99% in the corresponding period of 2018. On an annual basis, net exports in 2018 was 17.45% lower than the preceding year.
“National Disposable Income slowed by -2.76% in the third quarter of 2018 but rose by 0.50% in the fourth quarter, in real terms year on year. In Q1 2019, it grew 6.58% in whi ch was higher than 0.21% recorded in Q1 2018”, the agency added.
It also reported that Compensation of Employees, during the third and fourth quarters of 2018, grew 11.59% and 8.12% respectively in real terms on year-on-year basis, with the growth rate slowing down in Q1 2019 to 3.85% compared to 14.54% in the corresponding quarter of 2018.
