The Nigerian economy is recovering as it grew by 2.55 per cent in real terms in the fourth quarter of 2019.
This is the highest growth it has recorded quarterly since the economy plunged into recession in 2016, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics Monday.
When compared to the fourth quarter of 2018, which recorded a growth rate of 2.38 percent, the growth rate represents an increase of 0.17 percent and an increase of 0.27 percent points when compared with the third quarter of 2019.
In January, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected that Nigeria’s real Gross Domestic Product will grow by 2.5 percent in 2020 and 2021.
The fund later reviewed the 2020 growth forecast for Nigeria downwards to two percent from the 2.5 percent it predicted earlier.
The reason for the downward review, according to the fund, is that Nigeria’s pace of economic recovery remains slow, as declining real incomes and weak investment continue to weigh on economic activity.
“Overall, this resulted in annual 2019 real growth rate of 2.27percent, compared to 1.91percent in 2018. Quarter on quarter, real GDP growth was 5.59percent,” the NBS report read.
According to the report, the aggregate GDP stood at N39,577,340.04 million in nominal terms in the last quarter of 2019.
This was higher than the fourth quarter of 2018 which recorded an aggregate of N35,230,607.63 million, representing year on year nominal growth rate of 12.34 per cent.
“This rate was -0.31percent points lower relative to the rate recorded in the fourth quarter of 2018 and -0.96percent points lower than the rate recorded in the preceding quarter.
The Nigerian economy has been classified broadly into the oil and non-oil sectors.
The oil sector contributed 7.32 per cent to total real GDP in Q4 2019, up from figures recorded in the corresponding period of 2018 but down compared to the preceding quarter, where it contributed 7.06 per cent and 9.77 per cent respectively.
The non-oil sector contributed 92.68 per cent to the nation’s GDP in the fourth quarter of 2019, lower than shares recorded in the fourth quarter of 2018 (92.94 per cent) but higher than the third quarter of 2019 (90.23 per cent).
