Nigeria’s economy grew 0.51 per cent in the first quarter of 2021, a report published by the statistics office on Sunday shows.
The latest report highlighted two consecutive quarters of growth following the negative growth rates recorded in the second and third quarters of last year.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in its report titled Nigeria’s Quarterly Gross Domestic Product (GDP), said the first quarter growth rate was slower than the 1.87 per cent growth rate recorded in quarter one of 2020.
It was, however, higher than the 0.11 per cent recorded in quarter four 2020, NBS said.
This, the agency said, is indicative of a slow but continuous recovery; as Nigeria, like most parts of the world, continue to manage the COVID-19 pandemic that has caused over 2,000 deaths in Nigeria and over three million deaths globally.
Further analysis shows that quarter on quarter, real GDP grew at -13.93 per cent in Q1 2021 compared to Q4 2020.
This reflects a generally slower pace of economic activities at the start of the year, the report said.
In the quarter under review, aggregate GDP stood at N40 million in nominal terms, NBS said. This performance is higher when compared to the first quarter of 2020 which recorded aggregate GDP of
N35.6 million, resulting in a nominal growth rate of 12.25 per cent.
“The nominal GDP growth rate in Q1 2021 was higher relative to 12.01% growth recorded in the first quarter of 2020 as well as the 10.07% growth recorded in the preceding quarter,” the report explained.
In the first quarter, the oil sector accounted for 9.25 per cent of aggregate real GDP which is slightly lower than 9.5 per cent recorded in the corresponding period of 2020 but higher than in the preceding quarter, where it contributed 5.87 per cent.
Meanwhile, the non-oil sector accounted for 90.75 per cent of aggregate GDP in the first quarter of 2021, higher than its share in the first quarter of 2020 which was 90.50 per cent but lower than 94.13 per cent recorded in the fourth quarter of 2020.
“Growth in the non-oil sector was driven mainly by the Information and Communication (Telecommunication) sector while other drivers include Agriculture (Crop Production); Manufacturing (Food, Beverage & Tobacco); Real Estate; Construction and Human Health & Social Services,” the NBS said
