• Nigeria Achieves 1.83mbpd Of Oil
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), on Tuesday released the 2017 Q1 Gross Domestic Products as scheduled, showing that Nigeria’s economy is on the verge of coming out of recession, as it contracted by 0.52% Year-on-Year, an improvement over the -1.73% recorded in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Although the fifth consecutive negative growth, the Q1 2017 figure was also better than the -0.67% recorded in the corresponding period of 2016 (Q1), and in line with the forecast by analysts that the nation’s economy is almost out of recession.
Specifically, nominal GDP for Q1 2017 stood N26.028tr, while real GDP was N18.3tr, with oil sector contributing 8.9%, the highest since Q1 2016, when it stood at 10.02%; up from 6.75% in the 2016 Q4. Non-oil for the period was 91.1%, down from 93.25% in 2016 Q4.
Arising from the peace in the Niger-Delta, the nation achieved production level of 1.83 million barrels per day of oil, the highest since Q2 of 2016, which is good news for the country at a time it continues to enjoy exemption status from the oil cut deal struck by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The deal, which was first struck last November, has seen members and non-members of the cartel removing over 1.6mbpd of crude oil from the market, led by Saudi Arabia, in a bid to shore up oil prices. The Q1 oil production figure released by the NBS was however far below the 2.17mbpd peak achieved in Q3 of 2015.
The services sector contributed the largest chunk of 55.45% to real GDP in the period under review, followed by industries with 23.21%; and agriculture, 21.35%.
According to the report, “growth in the non-oil sector was largely driven by the activities in the agriculture sector (crop production), informational and communication, manufacturing, transportation and other services.
“The oil sector grew by 140.67% (year-on-year) in the first quarter of 2017, taking into account revised 2016 data. This substantial growth rate partly arose as a result of the exchange rate depreciation, which increased the Naira value of oil exports, as well as stronger oil price.”
Within the period also, coal mining and metal ore activities in the sector continued to record strong year-on-year growth rates of 19.28% and 64.6% respectively. Quarrying and other metals also has a significant growth rate of 94.46%from 22.3% in the fourth quarter of 2016.
