Nigeria economy as measured by its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 0.51 per cent in the first quarter of 2021 year-on-year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in its latest GDP report published on Sunday.
The report stated that Nigeria’s economy had grown by 1.87 per cent in Q1 2020.
Nigeria went into recession last year but emerged from in Q4 2020 as the GDP expanded slightly by 0.11 per cent, with annual real GDP growth of -1.92 per cent.
The GDP is an indicator of the size of an economy and it measures the monetary value of all the finished goods and services produced within a country’s borders in a specific time.
“The Q1 2021 growth rate was slower than the 1.87 per cent growth rate recorded in Q1 2020 but higher than 0.11 per cent recorded in Q4 2020, indicative of a slow but continuous recovery,” the NBS said in the GDP report for Q1 2021.
The report stated that real GDP grew at -13.93 per cent in Q1 2021, compared to Q4 2020, reflecting a generally slower pace of economic activities at the start of the year.
It said in the quarter under review, aggregate value of all finished goods and services stood at N40.01 trillion in nominal terms, up 12.25 per cent from N35.65 trillion in Q1 2020.
The report stated that the oil sector contracted by 2.21 per cent in Q1 2021, compared with a growth rate of 5.6 per cent in the same period last year.
Also, the contribution of the oil sector to the aggregate GDP fell to 9.25 per cent from 9.5 per cent in Q1 2020.
The oil sector had contracted by 19.76 per cent in Q4 2020, with a contribution of 5.87 per cent to the GDP.
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The non-oil sector grew by 0.79 per cent in real terms in Q1 2021, 0.75 per cent lower than the rate recorded in the same quarter of 2020 and 0.89 per cent lower than that of Q4 2020.
“Growth in the non-oil sector was driven mainly by the information and communication (telecommunication) sector while other drivers include agriculture (crop production); manufacturing (food, beverage and tobacco); real estate; construction and human health and social services,” the NBS said.
The non-oil sector accounted for 90.75 per cent of aggregate GDP in Q1 2021, higher than 90.50 per cent in Q1 2020 but lower than 94.13 per cent in Q4 2020.
The agriculture sector grew by 15.14 per cent in nominal terms in Q1 2021, showing a decline of 7.33 per cent from the corresponding quarter of 2020 but an increase of 1.11 per cent when compared with the preceding quarter’s growth rate of 14.03 per cent.
Agriculture contributed 21.42 per cent to nominal GDP in Q1 2021, higher than 20.88 per cent in Q1 2020 but lower than 24.23 per cent in Q4 2020.
Nominal GDP growth of the manufacturing sector was recorded at 32.10 per cent, 3.62 per cent higher than the 28.47 recorded in Q1 2020 and 7.50 per cent higher than 24.60 per cent in Q4 2020.
Information and Communications sector grew by 7.86 per cent, 1.07 per cent lower than the 8.94 per cent recorded in Q1 2020, and 8.46 per cent lower than the rate recorded in Q4 2020.
