Mining, quarrying sector suffers 34.98 per cent decline in Q1

The National Bureau of Statistics(NBS) has said that the mining of oil and other solid minerals in the first quarter of 2016 suffered a drop by 34.98 per cent across the country.

The bureau said the value decline is in connection with the global drop in price of crude in the global market.

Four main activities make up the mining & quarrying sector, they are crude petroleum and natural gas, coal mining, metal ore and quarrying as well as other minerals.

According to First Quarter(Q1) GDP report made available by the NBS in Abuja,on a nominal basis, the Mining and Quarrying sector slowed by 34.98 per cent (year-on-year) during Q1 2016,adding that the sector contributed only 4.14 per cent to the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the first quarter of the year under review.

The bureau further said that this was 11.22 per cent higher than growth recorded in Q1 2015, but marginally higher than growth recorded in the previous quarter.

“The decline of 34.98 per cent  in year-on-year growth is attributable to the falling oil prices. The sector contributed 4.14 per cent to overall GDP in Q1 2016, lower than the contribution recorded in same quarter of 2015 and the preceding quarter by 2.60 per cent points and 1.04 per cent points respectively.

“In real terms, Mining and Quarrying sector slowed at 2.96 per cent (year-on-year) in Q1 2016, a relative improvement from Q1 2015 by 4.94 per cent points and Q4 2015 by 5.08 per cent” the report said .