GDP grows by 2.28% …as Oil production hits three-year high

-By Kenny Folarin

Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has grown by 2.28 per cent in the third quarter of 2019, Q3’19, just as oil production hits a three-year high.

Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, NBS revealed this in its Q3’19 report released Friday, stating that the GDP growth is  0.17 percentage points higher than the 2.12 per cent revised GDP growth recorded in the second quarter, Q2’19. The previous Q2 GDP figure released by the NBS was 1.94 per cent.

According to the GDP report released by the NBS, the average daily oil production in the quarter was 2.04 million barrels per day (mbpd), its highest in more than three years.

Despite an increase in crude oil production, the real GDP growth of the oil sector was 6.49 per cent year-on-year, YoY. This is 0.68 percentage points lower than the 7.17 per cent recorded in the Q2’19 the report reads :

 “The non-oil sector grew by 1.85 percent in real terms during the review quarter.” This is –0.48 per cent points lower when compared to the rate recorded in the same quarter of 2018 but 0.20% points higher than the second quarter of 2019.

 “During the quarter, the sector was driven mainly by the information and communication sector. Other drivers were agriculture, mining and quarrying, transportation and storage, and manufacturing.

“In real terms, the non-oil sector contributed 90.23 per cent to the nation’s GDP, slightly lower than the share recorded in the third quarter of 2018 (90.62 per cent), and in the second quarter of 2019 (91.02 per cent). In the third quarter, the oil sector contributed 9.77 per cent to the GDP while the non-oil sector contributed 90.23 per cent .”