Nigeria’s economy grew by 2.84%in Q3, 2015, says NBS

NATIONAL Bureau of Statistics (NBS) yesterday dis- closed that Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 2.84 per cent (year- on-year) in real terms in the third quarter of 2015.

The disclosure was contained in a report by the bureau in Abuja, where it said that GDP growth was higher by 0.49 per cent points from the growth recorded in the preceding quarter, yet lower by 3.38 per cent points from growth recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2014.

According to NBS, during the quarter, aggregate GDP stood at N24,313,636.94 mil- lion (in nominal terms) at basic prices.

Compared to the 3rd Quarter 2014 value of N22,933,144.01 million, nominal GDP was 6.02 per cent higher. Nominal GDP growth was also higher relative to growth recorded in Q1 of 2015 by 0.85 per cent points. The Nigerian economy can be more clearly under- stood according to the oil and non-oil sector classifications.

During the period under review, preliminary data on oil production reflects output at 2.17 million barrels per day (mbpd) up from production in the 2nd Quarter of 2015 by 0.17mbpd. Oil production was also marginally higher to the corresponding quarter in 2014 by 0.02mbpd when output was recorded at 2.15mbpd.

As a result, real growth of the oil sector increased by 1.06 (year-on-year) in Q3 of 2015, higher by 4.65 per cent points from the corresponding quarter of 2014, and higher from the Q2 when growth declined by 6.79 per cent. Quarter-on-Quarter, growth also increased by 14.35 per cent.

As a share of the economy, the oil sector represented 10.27 per cent of total real GDP, down from the shares recorded in the corresponding period of 2014 by 0.18 per cent points and up from the share in the Q2 of 2015 by 0.46 per cent points.

The non-oil sector grew by 3.05 per cent in real terms in the Q3 of 2015. This was 4.45 per cent points lower from the corresponding quarter in 2014 and marginally lower from the Q2 of 2015. In real terms, the non-oil sector contributed 89.73 per cent to the nation’s GDP, marginally higher from shares recorded in the Q3 of 2014 (89.55 per cent), but lower from the Q2 of 2015 (90.20 per cent).

Growth in the non-oil sector was largely driven by the activities of crop production, financial services, telecommunications and trade, among others.