SAN FRANCISCO, February 27, (THEWILL) – The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has released the full year 2017 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate for the country with the economy growing by 0.82 per cent in 2017.
The 0.82 per cent growth in GDP is an improvement over the contraction of -1.58 per cent which the economy recorded in 2016 during the period of recession while the aggregate GDP was also higher at 31.209 trillion naira in nominal terms, resulting in a nominal GDP growth of 6.99 percent.
The NBS stated that Nigeria’s GDP grew by 1.92 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017, as against 1.4 per cent in the third quarter, maintaining its growth since the economy emerged from recession in the second quarter of 2017.
It said the economy in the fourth quarter recorded aggregate GDP of N31.2tn in nominal terms compared to N29.16tn in the corresponding fourth quarter of 2016.
“The nation’s GDP grew in Q4 2017 by 1.92 per cent year-on-year in real terms, maintaining its positive growth since the emergence of the economy from recession in Q2 2017,” the report stated.
“This growth is compared to a contraction of –1.73 per cent recorded in Q4 2016 and a growth of 1.40 per cent recorded in Q3 2017. Quarter on quarter, real GDP growth was 4.29 per cent.
“The year 2017 recorded a real annual growth rate of 0.83 per cent higher than –1.58 per cent recorded in 2016.”
NBS further stated that oil production in the fourth quarter of 2017 averaged 1.91million barrels per day, and was 0.12 million barrels lower than the daily average production recorded in the third quarter of 2017.
For the non-oil sector, driven mainly by agriculture, trade, transportation and storage, the NBS report said it grew by 1.45 per cent in real terms during the fourth quarter of 2017 with an annual growth rate of 0.47 per cent compared to –0.22 per cent in 2016.
In real terms, the non-oil sector contributed 92.83 per cent to the nation’s GDP, lower from the 93.25 per cent share recorded in the fourth quarter of 2016.
