Nigeria’s annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) sustained a positive route in 2021 and grew by 3.40% year-on-year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
However, given the current economic realities, the growth rate exceeds every local and international projection.
GDP measures the performance of the economy within a given period of time.
The Statistician-General of the Federation, Simon Harry, at a news conference in Abuja, also said the GDP grew by 3.98% in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2021, up from 4.03% in Q3.
He said the annual nominal value in 2021 was N173.53 trillion as against N152.32 trillion in 2020, or 13.92% rise, while the annual real value of 2021 stood at N72.39 trillion compared to N70.01 trillion in 2020.
Harry said: “This figure to an average Nigerian may be seen lower than the 4.03% growth rate recorded in quarter three, 2021.
“However, analytically, it is not when viewed in terms of the base effect of the corresponding period in quarter four of 2020.
“Then the economy recorded a GDP growth rate of 0.11% as against the growth rate recorded in quarter three of the same year which was -3.62%.”
He said that the GDP growth rate for Q4 2020 was 0.11%, Q1 2021 0.51%, Q2 5.01%, and Q3 4.03%.
He explained that the improvement being seen in the output growth in the last five quarters depicts a steady progress made in stemming the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated negative impact on livelihood, well-being and the economy.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Harry said the economic recovery was a gradual process that required consistent collective efforts to improve economic activities across the institutional sectors.
In nominal terms, aggregate GDP stood at N49.28trillion in Q4 2021, higher than the N43.56 trillion recorded a year ago, or 13.11% rise year-on-year.
“In terms of real GDP which shows volume of economic activities, fourth quarter 2021 recorded N20.33 trillion, higher by N778.91 billion than N19.55 trillion recorded in fourth quarter 2020.
“This shows output growth of 3.98 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2021,” he added.
The improvement being seen in the output growth in the last five quarters depicts a steady progress made in stemming the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated negative impact on livelihood, well-being and the economy.
Sectoral contributions
Harry said on an annual basis, the oil sector contributed 7.24% to the GDP compared to 8.16% in 2020.
The sector contributed 5.19% to GDP in Q4 2021 with average daily oil production at 1.50 million barrels per day (mbpd), down from 5.87% the same period in 2020, at 1.56 mbpd.
He added that the Q4 2021 daily oil production was lower than Q3’s when volume was 1.57mbpd.
For the non-oil sector (excluding crude oil and natural gas activities), Harry said annual contribution increased from 91.84% in 2020 to 92.76% in 2021.
Annual growth rate for the sector was 4.44% against -1.25% in 2020.
However, in real terms, contribution was higher at 4.73% in Q4 2021, an improvement from the 1.69% reported in Q4 2020, but lower than 5.44% in Q3 2021.
The Statistician-General confirmed that the fastest growing activities in real terms during the Q4 2021 GDP estimates were “Air Transport (63.05%), Coal Mining (62.91%), Metal Ores (46.96%), Quarrying and Other Minerals (42.92%), Rail Transport and Pipeline (37.74%) and Road Transport (30.39%).
“Others are Water Supply, Sewerage, Waste Management and Remediation (28.84%) and Financial Institutions (25.19%).
“On the other hand, the slowest growing activities include Oil Refining (-43.94%), Crude Petroleum and Natural Gas (-8.06%), Wood and Wood Products (-4.82%), Pulp, Paper and Paper Products (-3.33%) and Textile, Apparel and Footwear (-2.37%).”
Harry noted that air, rail and road transportation witnessed high demand in Q4 2021 due to the festive season and easing of travel restrictions, while the growth of financial institutions was driven principally by the volume of deposits and interest on deposits received.
He, however, attributed the poor performance of oil to operational challenges and insecurity caused by pipeline vandals.
On the broad sectoral performance, he said agriculture grew by 3.58% in Q4 2021 in real terms higher than 3.42% in Q4 2020.
He also said the industry grew by -0.05%, an improvement over Q4 2020 growth of -7.30%, while services accounted for 5.58% growth, also an improvement from 1.31% in Q4 2020.
On an annual basis, the growth of industry and services improved from -5.85% and -2.22% in 2020 to -0.47% and 5.61% respectively in 2021.
However, the growth of the agriculture sector declined slightly from 2.17% in 2020 to 2.13% in 2021.
Agriculture contributed 26.84%, industry 18.05%, and services 55.11% to Q4 2021 GDP.
In contrast, agriculture contributed 26.95%, industry 18.77% and services 54.28% in Q4 2020.
