Nigeria’s economic growth slowed in the first quarter of 2023 as the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 2.31 per cent year-on-year within the quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics has said.
The statistics bureau said this in its “Nigerian Gross Domestic Product Report Q1 2023” released on Wednesday.
The NBS said this growth rate declined from 3.11 per cent recorded in the first quarter of 2022, and 3.52 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2022.
It said the reduction in growth is attributed to the adverse effects of the cash crunch experienced during the quarter.
According to the report, the performance of the GDP in the first quarter of 2023 was driven mainly by the services sector, which recorded a growth of 4.35 per cent and contributed 57.29 per cent to the aggregate GDP.
The bureau said the agriculture sector grew by -0.90 per cent, lower than the growth of 3.16 per cent recorded in the first quarter of 2022.
The NBS said although the growth of the industry sector improved to 0.31 per cent relative to -6.81 per cent recorded in the first quarter of 2022, agriculture and industry sectors contributed less to the aggregate GDP in the quarter under review compared to the first quarter of 2022.
According to the report, in the quarter under review, aggregate GDP stood at N51.24 trillion in nominal terms.
This performance is higher when compared to the first quarter of 2022 which recorded aggregate GDP of N45.3 trillion, indicating a year-on-year nominal growth of 13.07 per cent.
Credit: premiumtimesng.com
