– As Telecoms, Agric maintain lead in GDP
Nigeria’s average daily oil production for the third quarter of 2020 (Q3 ’20) was 1.6 million barrels per day (mbpd) according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). This shows the lowest performance since 2017.
The NBS data contained in its Q3 ’20 GDP report published Saturday, showed that the country recorded the highest oil production of 2.07mbpd in Q1 ’20 followed by Q3’19 when it was 2.04mbpd.
The country also recorded 2.02mbpd each in Q3 ’17 and Q2 ’19.
According to the report, the contribution of oil to GDP was 8.73 per cent in Q3 2020, down from 9.77 per cent and 8.93 per cent respectively recorded in the corresponding period of 2019 and the preceding quarter, Q2 2020.
The report showed that Nigeria has slid into the second recession in four years as the Q3 GDP recorded a contraction of 3.62 per cent year-on-year.
“Cumulatively, the economy has contracted by -2.48%While this represents an improvement of 2.48% points over the –6.10% growth rate recorded in the preceding quarter (Q2 2020), it also indicates that two consecutive quarters of negative growth have been recorded in 2020”, the report said.
The Statistics Bureau also revealed that Information and Communication and Agriculture sectors contributed substantially to the non-oil sector that recorded over 90 per cent in GDP contribution.
“In real terms, the Information and Communications sector recorded a growth rate of 14.56 per cent, year on year, an increase of 4.68 per cent points compared to the previous year. Quarter on quarter, the sector exhibited a growth of –15.29 per cent in real terms.
“Of total real GDP, the sector accounted for 13.47 per cent as at Q3 2020, compared to 17.83 per cent contribution in the preceding quarter.
“Telecommunications & Information Services under Information and Communication sector grew by 17.36 per cent in Q3 2020 from 18.10 per cent in Q2 2020 and 12.16 per cent in Q3 2019”, the report stated.
The report also showed that Agriculture maintains substantial relevance to the GDP as it plays a major role in building the non-oil sector performance.
“In the third quarter of 2020, the agricultural sector grew by 1.39 per cent (year-on-year) in real terms, a drop of 0.89 per cent points from the corresponding period of 2019, and a decrease of –0.19 per cent points from the preceding quarter.
“On a quarter-on-quarter basis, agriculture GDP grew 39.95 per cent.
“In terms of contribution, the sector contributed 30.77 per cent to overall GDP in real terms in Q3 2020, higher than the contribution in the third quarter of 2019 and the second quarter of 2020 which stood at 29.25 per cent and 24.65 per cent, respectively.