Nigeria's GDP growth decreases by 2.31% in Q1 2023 — NBS

Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth slowed by 2.31 percent in the first quarter of 2023 on a year-on-year basis.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) made this known in the Nigerian Gross Domestic Product Report Q1 2023 released in Abuja on Thursday.

However,the growth, the NBS said, represented a decline from 3.52 percent in the preceding quarter and 3.11 percent recorded in the first quarter of 2022.

The reduction in GDP performance is attributed to the adverse effects of the cash crunch experienced during the quarter, it noted.

Growth was largely driven by the services sector, which recorded a growth rate of 4.35 percent and contributed 57.29 percent to the aggregate GDP.

The agriculture sector grew by -0.90 percent, lower than the growth of 3.16 percent recorded in the first quarter of 2022.

According to the NBS,although the growth of the industry sector improved to 0.31 percent relative to 6.81 percent recorded in the first quarter of 2022, agriculture and the industry sectors contributed less to the aggregate GDP in the quarter under review compared to the first quarter of 2022.

“The agriculture sector grew by -0.90 percent, lower than the growth of 3.16 percent recorded in the first quarter of 2022.

“Although the growth of the industry sector improved to 0.31 percent relative to 6.81 percent recorded in the first quarter of 2022, agriculture and the industry sectors contributed less to the aggregate GDP in the quarter under review compared to the first quarter of 2022,” a part of the release said.

The NBS disclosed that the real growth of the oil sector was -4.21 percent on a year-on-year basis in Q1 2023, indicating an increase of 21.83 percent relative to the rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2022 at -26.04 percent.

It said growth increased by 9.18 percent when compared to Q4 2022, which was -13.38 percent, and on a quarter-on-quarter basis, the oil sector recorded a growth rate of 20.68 percent in Q1 2023.

The sector, according to the statistics office, contributed 6.21 percent to the total real GDP in Q1 2023, down from the figure recorded in the corresponding period of 2022 and up from the preceding quarter, where it contributed 6.63 percent and 4.34 percent, respectively.

As for the non-oil sector, it grew by 2.77 percent in real terms during the reference quarter, lower by 3.30 percent points compared to the rate recorded in the same quarter of 2022 and 1.67 percent points lower than the fourth quarter of 2022.

This sector was driven in the first quarter of 2023 mainly by information and communication (telecommunication); financial and insurance (financial institutions); trade; manufacturing (food, beverage, and tobacco); construction; and transportation and storage (road transport), accounting for positive GDP growth.

In real terms, the report showed that the non-oil sector contributed 93.79 percent to the nation’s GDP in the first quarter of 2023, higher than the share recorded in the first quarter of 2022, which was 93.37 percent, and lower than the 95.66 percent recorded in the fourth quarter of 2022.