GDP Grows at 1.50% in Q2 2018
…Compared to 0.72% In Q2 2017.

For the first time since the exit from recession, Nigeria’s GDP grew by 1.50% compared to 0.72% in the same period of 2017.

The growth was driven by the non-oil sector which grew by 2.05% representing the strongest growth in non-oil GDP since Q4 2015.
Non-oil GDP growth which was -0.18% in Q1 2016, -0.38% in Q2 2016, 0.03% in Q3 2016, -0.33% in Q4 2016, 0.72% in Q1 2017, 0.45% in Q2 2017, -0.76% in Q3 2017, 1.45% in Q4 2017and 0.76% in Q1 2018 grew strongly in Q2 2018 by 2.05%.
Non-oil growth was driven by transportation which grew by 21.76% supported by growth in construction which grew by 7.66% and electricity which grew by 7.59%.
Other non-oil sectors that drove growth in Q2 2018 include telecommunication which grew by 11.51%, water supply and sewage which grew by 11.98% and broadcasting which grew by 21.92%.
The non-oil sector performance was however constrained by Agriculture that grew by 1.3% compared to 3.00% in Q1 2018 and 3.01% in Q2 2017.
Q2 2018 GDP growth was also constrained by oil GDP with crude oil and gas production contracting by -3.95% compared to 14.77% in Q1 2018 and 3.53% in Q2 2017
Services GDP recorded its best performance in 9 quarters, growing by 2.12% in Q2 2018 compared to -0.47% in Q1 2018 and -0.85% in Q2 2017. This development was different in Q1 as the oil sector’s contribution to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product, (GDP) remained below 10 per cent in Q1 figures of the nation’s GDP released by the National Bureau of Statistics in Abuja. According to the NBS, the nation’s GDP grew by 1.95 per cent year-on-year- in real terms in the first quarter of 2018. Although the nation recorded some growth in the oil sector during the period, the contribution formed only 9.61 per cent of the total, with the non- oil sector accounting for the rest. This is despite an increase in the daily oil production to an average of 2.0 million barrels per day (mbpd), higher than the 1.95 mbpd in the fourth quarter of 2017. The report stated that real growth of the oil sector was 14.77 per cent (year-on-year) in first quarter of 2018. This represented an increase of 30.37 per cent points relative to rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2017. Quarter-on-Quarter, the oil sector grew by 13.24 per cent in first quarter, 2018, NBS said. This was up from 8.53 per cent in the first quarter and 7.35 per cent in the fourth quarter recorded in 2017. In comparison, non-oil sector grew by 0.76 per cent in real terms during the quarter under review.