GDP growth rate declined to 2.79% in 2015 – NBS

The Nigerian economy witnessed a massive decline in output as the country’s Gross Domestic Product slipped from a growth rate of 6.22 per cent in 2014 to 2.79 per cent at the end of 2015.

The growth figures, which were released on Tuesday by the National Bureau of Statistics, showed that the growth rate of 2.79 per cent recorded in 2015 was the lowest in recent times.

In 2012, the economy grew by 4.21 per cent, while the rate rose to 5.49 per cent and 6.22 per cent in 2013 and 2014, respectively.

An analysis of the report showed that the GDP grew by 3.96 per cent in the first quarter of last year. This dropped to 2.35 per cent in the second quarter. It, however, rose to 2.84 per cent in the third quarter before declining to 2.11 per cent in the fourth quarter.

Further analysis of the report revealed that as was the case in 2014, the services sector remained the driver of economic growth last year.

The sector recorded a GDP growth rate of 53.18 per cent in 2015 as against 53.48 per cent in 2014.

This was followed by the industrial sector, which recorded a growth rate of 23.71 per cent in 2015 as against 22.66 per cent the previous year, while the agriculture sector recorded a growth rate of 23.11 per cent last year as against 23.86 per cent in 2014.

In terms of quarterly performance, the report stated that the services sector recorded a growth rate of 54.56 per cent, 54.36 per cent, 49.70 per cent and 54.30 per cent in the first, second, third and fourth quarters of 2015, respectively.