NBS reiterates importance of GDP, CPI, Rebasing

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The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said that it took the decision to rebase the gross domestic product (GDP) and the consumer price index (CPI) because of the dynamism of the economy in terms of growth and recession.

It also promised to unveil the rebased GDP and CPI by the end of January 2025.

It noted that the dimensions of growth and recession need to be properly captured to give more insights into the economic situation of the country.

GDP is the market value of all the goods and services produced within a country in a given period. It measures overall economic activity and signals the direction of economic growth, while CPI is a number that shows the movement of the aggregate price level and is an important macroeconomic variable of a country.

In October last year, NBS announced to the country that it was working to rebase the country’s GDP and CPI to align them with current economic realities.

The last time the GDP was rebased was in 2014 using 2010 as the base year, while CPI was last rebased in 2009.

NBS noted that for GDP, it is choosing 2019 as the base year because other sector-specific administrative data for this period were collected, and it was also the year the economy experienced relative stability.

According to NBS, in a statement on Monday evening, it is important that CPI is rebased from time to time because consumption patterns change, hence the need to update items in the CPI basket.

“Since the last rebasing, the consumption pattern in Nigeria has changed significantly, as shown by changes in the proportion of households’ expenditures on items consumed in the recently conducted Nigeria Living Standards Survey (NLSS), 2023,” it said, adding that a perfect example of this is the significant increase in the proportion of households’ expenditure on telecommunication compared to other items since the last rebasing of CPI.

It said the changes in consumption patterns have altered the basket of goods and services on which NBS collects prices. “This means that the current basket of goods and services needs to be updated to accommodate the new ones,” it noted.

On GDP, the agency said over time, prices and the structure of the economy change due to the introduction of new products and alterations in the variety of products and services caused by technological innovations.

It said the activities of some sectors of the economy have grown tremendously since the last rebasing, making them significant among other sectors of the economy.

These sectors, according to the NBS, include Marine and Blue Economy; Art, Culture, Tourism and Creative Economy; Information and Communication Technology, Innovation and Digital Economy; and E-activities. “These developments need to be adequately captured in GDP compilation to give realistic information about the economy at present,” it said, adding that the rebased GDP will also contain illegal economic activities.

It also informed that it is worthy to note that the current rebasing will use the frameworks for the compilation of National Accounts, such as the latest International Standard Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC Rev. 4.0), Central Product Classifications (CPC 2.0), and the 2008 System of National Accounts (2008 SNA).

Speaking on the rebasing, Statistician-General of the Federation and CEO of the National Bureau of Statistics, Prince Semiu Adeyemi Adeniran, said, “I would like to assure all Nigerians that the expected rebased CPI and GDP reports will be the best of their kind and will provide further insights into the Nigerian economy.”