BY FESTUS OKOROMADU, ABUJA
The National Bureau of Statistics has said that Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product grew by 2.51 percent in real terms during the second quarter of 2023 when compared to the corresponding period of 2022.
Nominal GDP stood at N52.10 trillion while real GDP for the second quarter was N17.72.
The growth according to the NBS report released on Friday was driven mainly by the Services sector, which rose by 4.42 percent and contributed 58.42 percent to the aggregate GDP.
However, the growth rate is lower than the 3.54 percent recorded in the second quarter of 2022.
But the NBS attributed it to the challenging economic conditions currently being experienced.
On a sectorial performance, the report said, the agriculture sector grew by 1.50 percent, translating to an improvement from the growth of 1.20 percent recorded in the second quarter of 2022.
The Industrial sector continues to suffer downward growth as it declined by 1.94 percent slightly lower than the 2.30 percent decline recorded in the second quarter of 2022.
In terms of share to the GDP, agriculture and the industry sectors contributed less to the aggregate GDP in the second quarter of 2023 compared to the second quarter of 2022.
“In the quarter under review, aggregate GDP stood at N52, 103,927.13 million in nominal terms.
“This performance is higher when compared to the second quarter of 2022 which recorded aggregate GDP of N45, 004,520.89 million, indicating a year-on-year nominal growth of 15.77 percent,” the NBS noted.
The report classified the Nigerian economy broadly into the oil and non-oil sectors.
Average daily oil production in the second quarter of 2023 was 1.22 million barrels per day, lower than the daily average production of 1.43mbpd recorded in the same quarter of 2022 by 0.22mbpd and lower than the first quarter of 2023 production volume of 1.51 mbpd by 0.29mbpd.
Consequently, the real growth of the oil sector was negative, declining 13.43 percent (year-on-year) in Q2 2023, indicating a decrease of 1.66 percent points relative to the rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2022 (-11.77 percent). Growth also decreased by 9.22 percent points when compared to Q1 2023 which was –4.21 percent.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the oil sector recorded a growth rate of -14.12 percent in Q2 2023.
The Oil sector contributed 5.34 percent to the total real GDP in Q2 2023, down from the figure recorded in the corresponding period of 2022 and down from the preceding quarter, where it contributed 6.33 percent and 6.21 percent respectively.
On the other hand, the non-oil sector grew by 3.58 percent in real terms during the reference quarter (Q2 2023).
“This rate was lower by 1.19 percent points compared to the rate recorded in the same quarter of 2022 and 0.81 percent points higher than the first quarter of 2023.
“This sector was driven in the second quarter of 2023 mainly by Information and Communication (Telecommunication); Financial and Insurance (Financial Institutions); Trade; Agriculture (Crop production); Manufacturing (Food, Beverage & Tobacco); Construction; and Real Estate, accounting for positive GDP growth. In real terms, the non-oil sector contributed 94.66% to the nation’s GDP in the second quarter of 2023, higher than the share recorded in the second quarter of 2022 which was 93.67 percent and higher than the first quarter of 2023 recorded as 93.79 percent,” the report stated.
