Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 3.46% (year-on-year) in real terms in the fourth quarter of 2023, lower than the 3.52% recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2022, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported on Thursday.
The Bureau, in its ‘Nigeria Gross Domestic Product Q4 2023’ report published on its website, however, stated that the Q4 2023 performance of the economy was higher than the third quarter of 2023 growth which stood at 2.54%.
The statistics agency attributed the improved GDP growth in the quarter under review by improvement in the Services sector output, which recorded a growth of 3.98% and contributed 56.55% to the aggregate GDP.
This is even as it reported that the agriculture sector grew by 2.10%, from the growth of 2.05% recorded in Q4 2022 while the growth of the industry sector was 3.86%, indicating an improvement from -0.94% recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2022.
The Bureau clarified that in terms of share of the GDP, industry and the services sectors contributed more to the aggregate GDP in Q4 2023 when compared to their contributions in Q4 2022.
The report further reflected that when analyzed on an annual basis, the nation’s GDP grew by 2.74% in 2023 relative to 3.10% in 2022.
The NBS disclosed that in nominal terms, in the quarter under review the aggregate GDP stood at N65,908,258.59 million, which is higher when compared to the fourth quarter of 2022 with aggregate GDP of N56,757,889.95 million, indicating a year-on-year nominal growth of 16.12%.
On the performance of the major economic sectors, the report showed that the Mining & Quarrying sector grew nominally by 15.07% (year-on-year) in Q4 2023.
Similarly, the Bureau also disclosed that the Agricultural sector grew by 14.94% year-on-year in nominal terms in Q4 2023, showing a decrease of 3.74% points when compared to its performance in the corresponding quarter of 2022.
The report revealed that the Manufacturing sector recorded a nominal GDP growth of 38.06% (year-on-year), in the quarter under review, which showed a 29.20% points higher than the growth rate it recorded in the corresponding period of 2022 (8.86%) and 1.47% points higher than the preceding quarter figure of 36.59%.
On the performance of the Electricity, Gas, Steam and Air conditioning Supply sector, the Bureau indicated in the report that the sector recorded a year-on-year growth of 34.28% in Q4 2023, representing 11.87% points higher than the 22.41% growth rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2022, and 1.73% points lower than the 36.01% growth rate in the preceding quarter.
A further analysis of other key sectors’ performances during the quarter under review reflected that while the Construction, Trade, Accommodation and Food Services, Arts, Entertainment and Recreation, Real Estate Services sectors’ growth rates declined year-on-year, the Information and Communication sector improved in performance.
