2.55% GDP: FG Says Early 2020 Budget Passage’ll Spur More Robust Growth

The Federal Government, on Monday, applauded the better than expected growth in the Nigerian economy, judging by the fourth quarter of 2019 Gross Domestic Product data released by the National Bureau of Statistics.
Describing it as reasonable, the government said the growth was despite factors such as “external shocks, internal issues (border closure), tightening of monetary policy, and the Central Bank of Nigeria’s continued defense of the Naira.”
In a statement, Laolu Akande, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity, Office of the Vice President, quoted the Special Adviser to the President on Economic Matters, Dr. Adeyemi Dipeolu a factor such as the early passage and Presidential ascent to the 2020 Budget will ensure faster growth ahead.
He listed other factors as including the less volatility in oil prices, reduced effect of disease on crops (Lassa fever), more support to SMEs… and the continued diversification of the economy.
Economic growth, he continued, reflects “a healthy economy and points to the policies of the government towards specific priority sectors. The report shows that Nigeria is growing, even higher than some international analysts had predicted.”
For him also, the latest GDP growth is attributable “to the robust policies of the government to diversify the economy, renewed security efforts/reduced vandalism of pipelines, and improved consumption/production of local goods (Rice) etc.”
While welcoming the report, he said it is in line with “the determination of the Buhari Administration to continue to drive the economy towards further growth and shared prosperity as we continue our active engagements with States of the Federation in that effort, because as the President said recently “the economy is the most delicate and sensitive of all aspects of national life.”
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP), he recalled, grew by 2.55% (year-on-year), in Q4 2019, reflecting an increase of 0.17% over Q4 2018 (2.38%), while aggregate GDP stood at N39.5trillion while in real terms GDP is at N19.53trillion in Q4 2019.
The growth in Q4 2019 is the highest rate since Nigeria came out of the recession in 2017. This feeds into the estimated overall GDP growth for 2019 which is 2.27%. This represents an increase in 2018’s growth rate of 0.36%, and shows an improving trend since the recession, of increasing growth in GDP, he stressed.
The non-oil sector contributed 92.68% to GDP in the period with the oil sector contributing 7.32%. While the oil sector has seen an undulating trend over the past few years, the non-oil sector has a more stable and slightly upward growth trajectory. The non-oil sector’s contribution is on the back of Agriculture 26.1%, Industries 20.27%, and Services 53.64%.
In the oil sector, average production was 2million barrels per day (2mbpd) in Q4 2019. The important thing to note is that production remained consistently around this range in 2019. The real growth of the oil sector in Q4 2019 was 6.36% year-on-year (6.49% in Q3 2019). For 2019, the oil sector recorded growth of 4.59% (0.97% in Q4 2018)
The non-oil sector grew by 2.26% in real terms in Q4 2019. This is a slight reduction compared with 2.7% in Q4 2018, but higher than 1.82% in the previous quarter.
The growth in the non-oil sector is driven by Information and Communication Technology, Agriculture, Manufacturing and Financial and Insurance Services.
Agriculture grew by 13.8% in Q4 2019, which is lower than 18.58% and 14.88% recorded in Q4 2018 and Q3 2019. Sector contribution is 22.12% which is higher than recorded in 2018. Real growth in the sector was 2.31% (year-on-year).
In Manufacturing, the growth is 26.29% for the period, which is less than 33.57% and 39.69% in Q4 2018 and Q3 2019 respectively. Sector contribution is 11.37%, which is higher than the same period in 2018. Real GDP growth was 1.24% (year on year)

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