The insurance industry in Nigeria witnessed substantial growth, expanding by 16.99 percent in the third quarter of the 2023 financial period, according to a report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on finance and insurance within the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The report highlighted that the finance and insurance sector is comprised of two subsectors: financial institutions and insurance. Financial institutions accounted for 91 percent, while insurance constituted the remaining nine percent of the sector in real terms during Q3, 2023.
In nominal terms, the sector demonstrated an overall growth rate of 30.20 percent year-on-year, with financial institutions experiencing a growth rate of 31.67 percent and the insurance sector achieving a noteworthy 16.99 percent growth rate.
The report indicated that the overall growth rate surpassed that of Q3, 2022, by 8.82 percent points and was higher by 2.20 percent points compared to the preceding quarter.
However, on a quarter-on-quarter basis, the growth contracted by 7.85 percent.
The NBS noted that the sector’s contribution to the nominal GDP in Q3, 2023, stood at 3.17 percent, showing an increase from the 2.83 percent recorded in the previous year but a decrease from the 4.01 percent contribution made in the preceding quarter.
In real terms, the growth in this sector reached 28.21 percent, marking an increase of 15.52 percent points from the rate recorded in the third quarter of 2022 and a rise of 1.37 percent points from the rate recorded in the preceding quarter. However, the quarter-on-quarter growth in real terms was reported at -9.17 percent.
The NBS emphasized that the contribution of the finance and insurance sector to the real GDP totaled 4.36 percent, surpassing the 3.49 percent contribution recorded in the third quarter of 2022 by 0.87 percent points. Yet, it was lower than the 5.26 percent recorded in Q2, 2023, by 0.91 percent points.
This robust growth in the insurance sector underscores its increasing significance in the nation’s economic landscape, reflecting positive trends and contributing to the overall economic development of Nigeria.
