By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Sunday said the Nigerian economy grew 5.94 percent Year-on-Year (Y-o-Y) on an aggregate basis in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2014, a decrease of 0.28 percent from the 6.23 percent recorded in the third quarter of the year, the NBS GDP Report for Q4 2014 said.
The NBS reported the growth rate to be lower by 0.83 percent compared to the same period of 2013.
“From the third quarter of 2014, the economy grew by 3.84 percent in quarter four,” the report added.
“The nominal GDP at basic prices for the fourth quarter of 2014 was estimated at N24, 205,863.34 million, up 13.10 percent from N21, 401,519.78 million estimated for the corresponding quarter of 2013 and 5.55 percent from N22, 933,144.01 million recorded in the third quarter of 2014,” the Bureau office said.
The NBS in the report said that the economy can be broadly classified into two (2) output sectors of Oil and Non-oil sectors, with the oil sector experienced production and price challenges in the quarter of review.
It said, “Despite this, average daily production of crude oil was recorded at 2.18 million barrels per day (mbpd), an increase from 2.16 mbpd recorded in the Fourth Quarter of 2013 and from the 2.15 mbpd recorded in third quarter of the year 2014.”
NBS says the oil sector also grew by 1.18 percent in the Q4 of 2014, 10.54 percentage points higher than the decline of 9.36 percent recorded in the corresponding period of 2013.
“Yet, the Oil sector contributed approximately 8.97 percent to real GDP in quarter four of 2014, lower by 1.48 percentage points from the 10.45 percent contribution quarter three of 2014, and by 0.42 percentage points from the 9.39 percent recorded during the fourth quarter of 2013,” the report affirmed.
NBS says the non-oil sector growth was driven by growth in activities recorded in the Crop Production, Trade, Textile, Apparel and Footwear, and Real Estate sectors, adding that “In the fourth quarter of 2014, the non-oil sector recorded 6.44 percent growth in real terms, lower when compared to the 8.78 percent recorded in the corresponding period in 2013, and the 7.51 percent recorded in the third quarter of 2014,” the NBS affirmed.
According to the report, the other services sector grew 53.23 percent Y-o-Y in the Q4 of 2014 up by 56.26 percent from the rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2013 and up 25.12 percent from the rate reported in the Q3 of 2014. “Quarter-on-Quarter, the sector grew by 54.29 percent. In nominal terms, the sector contributed 3.30 per-cent of the nation’s GDP in the fourth quarter of 2014,” NBS reported.
The report further affirmed that in real terms, the sector grew by 13.66 percent Y-o-Y in the Q4 of 2014, up from a rate of 3.14 percent recorded in the same period of 2013 and lower than the 19.42 percent rate of the Q3 of 2014. “Quarter-on-Quarter, the sector grew significantly, by 51.68 percent,” the NBS added.
“The sector´s contribution to GDP in real terms stood at 3.04 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014, up from the 2.83 percent recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2013 and from the 2.08 percent recorded in the third quarter of 2014,” the report noted.
A country’s GDP is the one the primary indicators used to gauge the health of its economy. It represents the total dollar value of all goods and services produced over a specific time period.
