Nigeria’s economy is showing slow but steady signs of recovery as the Gross Domestic Product grew by 0.51 per cent in real terms in the first quarter of 2021, marking two consecutive quarters of growth.
The country slid into recession last year, after recording negative growth rates in the second and third quarter of 2020.
Latest GDP report by the National Bureau of Statistics on Sunday stated that the growth rate was slower than the positive 1.87% recorded in Q1 2020 but higher than 0.11% recorded in Q4 2020.
“Quarter on quarter, real GDP grew at -13.93% in Q1 2021 compared to Q4 2020, reflecting a generally slower pace of economic activities at the start of the year.
“In the quarter under review, aggregate GDP stood at N40, 014,482.74 million in nominal terms. This performance is higher when compared to the first quarter of 2020 which recorded aggregate GDP of N35,647,406.08 million, indicating a year on year nominal growth rate of 12.25%’” the report added.
Further breakdown showed that oil GDP contracted, following the lackluster performance in global demand, forcing the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, including Nigeria, to cut down on production output.
“The oil sector recorded real GDP growth rate of –2.21% (year-on-year) in Q1 2021 indicating a decrease of –7.27% points relative to the growth rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2020 (5.06%).
“In terms of contribution to aggregate GDP, the Oil sector accounted for 9.25% of aggregate real GDP in Q1 2021, slightly lower than 9.5% recorded in the corresponding period of 2020 but higher than in the preceding quarter, where it contributed 5.87%.”
The NBS explained that, “In the first quarter of 2021, average daily oil production stood at 1.72 million barrels per day (mbpd), or 0.35mbpd lower than the average daily production of 2.07mbpd recorded in the same quarter of 2020 but higher than the production volume of 1.56mbpd recorded in the fourth quarter of 2020.”
Meanwhile, the non-oil sector sustained the mild recovery, but lower than the records from Q4 2020.
“The non-oil sector grew by 0.79% in real terms in Q1 2021, which was –0.75% points lower compared to the rate recorded in the same quarter of 2020 and -0.89% points lower than rates recorded in the fourth quarter of 2020.”
It stressed that growth in the sector was driven mainly by the Information and Communication (Telecommunication) sector, while other drivers include Agriculture (Crop Production); Manufacturing (Food, Beverage & Tobacco); Real Estate; Construction and Human Health & Social Services.
“In real terms, the Non-oil sector accounted for 90.75% of aggregate GDP in the first quarter of 2021, higher than its share in the first quarter of 2020 which was 90.50% but lower than 94.13% recorded in the fourth quarter of 2020.”