Nigeria’s Real Gross Domestic Product Shrinks to $493billion

The country’s real Gross Domestic Product, GDP, fell steeply from $573 billion in 2014 to $483 billion in 2015, representing more than 14 per cent drop in one year.

This was as import/export trading activities slowed down with export dropping by 32 per cent from $82.6 billion in 2014 to $50.7 bil­lion in 2015 and import drop­ping by 21 per cent from 61.6 billion in 2014 to 48.4 billion in 2015.

Lead Consultant, ECOWAS Commission for Industry and Private Sector Development, Ken Ife, who spoke at the Nige­rian Logistics and Supply Chain: Industry Report 2016 in Lagos, said that logistics sector is es­timated at well over N200 bil­lion and is growing at annual rate of 10 per cent.

According to him, regula­tory pressures and investment have led to increased profes­sionalization and moderniza­tion of the haulage and logis­tics companies. On the over­view, size and the potential of the logistics and supply chain sector, he explained that Ni­geria is among the lowest cost crude oil producer, and with international oil prices fixed in US dollars, could not care less until now that the economy faces severe melt­down with the steep drop in oil prices.

“To grow a diver­sified export economy, de­velopment of import substi­tution and backward integra­tion policies around increased value addition requires an urgent but fundamental re­view of the transport logistics and supply chain industry and developing our national logistics strategy to achieve greater competitiveness and increased trade facilitation,” he said.