The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, has said that Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product, GDP, grew by 1.50 per cent year-on-year in real terms to N16.58 trillion in the second quarter of this year.
The NBS made this known in its report, “Nigeria Gross Domestic Product (Q2 2018)’’ released this week in Abuja. The report stated that the growth in the period under review was 0.79 per cent points higher compared to the second quarter of 2017 which recorded a growth of 0.72per cent.
The bureau, however, said the figure was about – 0.45 per cent points lower than the 1.95 per cent recorded in the first quarter of 2018. It said the real GDP growth on a quarter-to-quarter basis was 2.94 per cent while the aggregate GDP stood at N30.69 trillion in nominal terms in the period under review. The NBS said this represented a 7.85 per cent increase in nominal GDP compared to the preceding quarter (N28.46 trillion) and 13.57per cent increase when compared to the corresponding quarter of 2017 (N27.03 trillion).
The bureau said the growth in the second quarter was driven by developments in the non-oil sector as the Services sector recorded its strongest positive growth since 2016. According to the NBS, the relatively slower growth when compared to the first quarter and second quarter of 2017 could be attributed to developments in both the oil and non-oil sectors”.
The NBS position tallies with the optimism raised by the Finance Minister, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, a few days before the latest report was released. Mrs. Adeosun had commended what she called the deliberate and aggressive pursuit of the content of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, ERGP, initiated by the Buhari administration. She expressed the hope that as the scope of the ERGP widens in the coming months, the economy will blossom.
