The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Thursday reported that Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) economy grew at 3.40 per cent year-on-year in 2021, representing the fastest annual growth since 2014 when it peaked at 6.22 percent.
The Statistician General of the Federation, Dr. Simon Harry, gave these figures during his media briefing on the performance of the nation’s economy in the Q4, 2021.
The 2021 annual GDP growth rate beats analysts and government forecasts. For instance, the Ministry of Finance predicted a 2.5 per cent growth rate for the year under review while the Central Bank of Nigeria projected 3.1 per cent growth rate.
Harry, who is also the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the NBS, reported that in the quarter under review (Q4 2021) the GDP grew by 3.98% year-on-year in real terms in Q4, 2021, indicating a sustained positive growth for the fifth quarter since the recession witnessed in 2020.
He explained that the Q4 2021 growth rate was higher than the 0.11% growth rate recorded in Q4 2020 by 3.87% points and lower than 4.03% recorded in Q3, 2021 by 0.05% points.
The SG clarified: “This figure to an average Nigerian may be seen lower than the 4.03 per cent growth rate recorded in quarter three, 2021.
“However, analytically, it is not when viewed in terms of the base effect of the corresponding period in quarter four of 2020.
“Then the economy recorded a GDP growth rate of 0.11 per cent as against the growth rate recorded in quarter three of the same year which was -3.62 per cent”, the Statistician General added.
He further said that when analysed on a quarter-on-quarter basis, the real GDP grew at 9.63% in Q4 2021 compared to Q3 2021, reflecting a higher economic activity than the preceding quarter.
According to him, the real growth of the oil sector was –8.06% (year-on-year) in Q4 2021, representing an increase by 11.71% points relative to the rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2020. Growth increased by 2.68% points when compared to Q3 2021 which was –10.73%.
Harry further reported that average daily oil production in Q4 2021 stood at 1.50 million barrels per day (mbpd), lower than the daily average production of 1.56mbpd recorded in the same quarter of 2020 by 0.06mbpd and lower than the Q3 2021 production volume of 1.57mbpd
However, he explained that the non-oil sector grew by 4.73% in real terms during the quarter under review, higher by 3.05% point compared to the rate recorded same quarter of 2020 and 0.71% point lower than the third quarter of 2021.
The Statistician General attributed the non-oil sector’s growth mainly to Agriculture (crop production); trade; Information and Communication (Telecommunication); and Financial and Insurance (Financial Institutions).
In real terms, the Non-Oil sector contributed 94.81% to the nation’s GDP in fourth quarter 2021, higher from share recorded in the fourth quarter of 2020 which was 94.13% and higher than the third quarter of 2021 recorded as 92.51%. The annual contribution in 2021 was 92.76%
