Nigeria’s economy witnessed a slow-paced growth of -0.68% in the first quarter of 2020 as the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contracted by 1.87% when compared to the fourth quarter of 2019.
In the latest GDP report published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday, Nigeria’s slow economic growth was attributed to the effects of significant global disruptions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, a sharp fall in oil prices and restricted international trade.
Year on year, the economy also dragged by –0.23% points when compared to Q1 2019, while Quarter on quarter, real GDP growth was –14.27% compared to 5.59% recorded in the preceding quarter.
The statistical agency said in the quarter under review, aggregate GDP stood at N35,647,406.08 million in nominal terms.
“This performance was higher when compared to the first quarter of 2019 which recorded N31,824,349.67 million, with a nominal growth rate of 12.01% year on year.
“Relative to the first quarter of 2019, the nominal growth rate was higher by 0.11% points but lower than the preceding quarter by –0.32% points.”
In the first quarter of 2020, Nigeria sustained the daily average oil production of 2.07 million barrels per day (mbpd), when compared to the 1.99mbpd recorded in the same quarter of 2019.
The report stated that the country’s oil sector recorded a real growth rate of 5.06% (year-on-year) in Q1 2020 indicating an increase of 6.51% points relative to the rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2019.
“Quarter-on-quarter, the oil sector recorded a growth rate of 11.30% in Q1 2020. The Oil sector contributed 9.50% to aggregate real GDP in Q1 2020, up from figures recorded in the corresponding period of 2019 and the preceding quarter, as the share of the non-oil economy declined.”
Meanwhile, the non-oil sector grew by 1.55% in real terms during the reference quarter, but slower by –0.93% points year on year.
The report showed that the non-oil sector was driven mainly by “Information and Communication (Telecommunications), Financial and Insurance (Financial Institutions), Agriculture (Crop Production), Mining and Quarrying (Crude Petroleum & Natural Gas), and Construction”.
It added that the non-oil sector contributed 90.50% to the nation’s GDP in the first quarter of 2020, less than its share in the first quarter of 2019 which was 90.78% and the fourth quarter of 2019 recorded as 92.68%.
(C) Control TV 2020.
