Economy picks up at 2.84 per cent amid oil price crisis

The nation’s economy recorded a quantum leap in the third quarter computation of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at 2.84 per cent from 2.4 per cent in the second quarter and 6.2 per cent in the same period of 2014.

The development, which has already been described by analysts as ‘‘slightly faster pace expansion’’, was riding on the back of increased oil production in the period under review.

During the quarter, aggregate GDP stood at N24,313,636.94 million (in nominal terms) at basic prices, compared to the third quarter of 2014, with value of N22,933,144.01 million, representing 6.02 per cent higher, while it was also higher relative to growth recorded in first quarter of 2015 by 0.85 per cent points.

Nigeria has been struggling to cope with an almost 60 percent plunge in crude prices since June last year, with its economic growth set to slow to 3.9 per cent in 2015 from 6.3 per cent in 2014, according to the median estimate of 10 economists that was surveyed by Bloomberg.

The oil sector rose 1.1 percent in the three months ended September 30, after contracting 6.8 percent in the previous quarter, according to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

During the period under review, preliminary data on oil production put output at 2.17 million barrels per day (mbpd), higher that production in the second quarter by 0.17mbpd.

The oil production was also marginally higher to the corresponding quarter in 2014 by 0.02 mbpd when output was estimated at 2.15 mbpd.

The non-oil industry, which makes up 90 percent of GDP also increased 3.1 percent in the third quarter, down from 7.5 percent a year earlier, while manufacturing fell 1.8 percent, the third consecutive quarterly contraction.

Growth in the Non-oil sector was largely driven by the activities of crop production, financial services, telecommunications, and trade, among others.

The non-oil sector grew by 3.05 per cent in real terms in the third quarter of 2015, although 4.45 per cent points lower from the corresponding quarter in 2014, and marginally lower from the second quarter of 2015.