Nigeria’s economy grows by 1.81% in Q3 – NBS

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday released the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) report for the third quarter with the economy recording a growth rate rise to 1.81 per cent.

Gross Domestic Product is the monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced in a period of time, usually annually or quarterly.

According to details of the Nigerian Gross Domestic Product Report (Q3, 2018 ) released by the bureau on Monday, there is an increase of 0.64 per cent points, compared to the third quarter of 2017, which recorded a growth of 1.17 per cent.

In nominal terms, the report put the value of the country’s economic output during the third quarter at N33.36 trn which it rated high, when compared to the third quarter 2017 GDP output of N29.37 trn.

“This performance is higher when compared to the third quarter of 2017 which recorded a GDP aggregate of N29, 377, 674. 03 million thus, presenting a positive year on year nominal growth rate of 13.58%”.

“This growth rate is higher relative to growth recorded in the third quarter of 2017 by 2.88% points and higher than the proceeding quarter by 0.01% points with growth rates of 10.70% and 13.57% respectively. For clarity, the Nigerian economy has been classified broadly into the oil and non-oil sectors.”

Lukman Otunuga, a research analyst at FXTM, a finance firm, said confidence over the recovery of Nigeria’s economy is set to become a dominant theme following reports of the nation’s economic growth accelerating during the third quarter of 2018.

“Nigeria’s GDP expanded by 1.81 per cent in the third quarter, which represents an encouraging 0.31 per cent rise from the 1.50 per cent achieved in quarter two.

“Although the primary driver behind the economic expansion was rising oil production and elevated oil prices, signs of Non-Oil sectors contributing to growth is a welcome development.

“With the Non-Oil sector growing by 2.32 per cent in real terms during quarter three, Nigeria continues to showcase to the global arena that it remains on a quest to break away from oil reliance.”

He said with economic growth expected to gain momentum next year on the back of increasing government spending ahead of the presidential elections, Nigeria’s outlook remains encouraging.

“OPEC’s deal to cut oil production by 1.2 million barrels a day is seen offering near-term support to oil – a scenario that will most likely support Nigeria’s government revenues and the Naira exchange,” he said.