Ayorinde Oluokun/Abuja
The Federal Government has welcomed report of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released on Monday which indicated that the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 1.40 per cent year-on-year in real terms in the 3rd quarter, 2017.
“The Buhari administration welcomes the new growth figures, and will continue to work diligently on a daily basis to ensure inclusive growth, to which we have always been committed through the active pursuit of a raft of policy initiatives, past and present,” Special Adviser to the President on Economic Matters, Dr. Adeyemi Dipeolu said after the Q3 figures were released
He listed such initiatives include but not limited to the Social Investment Programmes, Anchor Borrowers Scheme, longstanding Budget Support Facilities to the States, plus other bailout packages, ensuring the comprehensive payment of workers’ salary & pension backlogs among others.
The Economic Adviser added that the Federal Government will be ramping up the implementation pace of the Economic Recovery & Growth Plan.
“The latest NBS GDP figures show that the Nigerian economy grew by 1.4% year-on-year in real terms in the third quarter of 2017 (Q3 2017). This is a steady continuation of the positive growth of 0.55% (now revised to 0.72%) experienced in Q2 2017 and reinforces the exit from the 2016 recession.
“The positive growth in Q3 is consistent with the improvements in other indicators. Foreign exchange reserves have risen to nearly $34 billion while stock market and purchasing managers indices have also been positive.
“The naira exchange rate has stabilised while inflation has declined to 15.91% from 18.7 in January 2017. While inflation is not declining as fast as desirable, it is approaching the estimated target of 15.74% for the year in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan.
“Agricultural growth was 3.06% in the third quarter of 2017, maintaining the positive growth of the sector even when there was a slow-down in the rest of the economy.
“The industrial sector grew at 8.83% mostly due to mining and quarrying. The oil sector grew very strongly as forecast in the ERGP and partly as a result of the policy actions in the plan to restore growth in the sector.
“The service sector is yet to recover but should soon begin to be positively affected by the improvements in the real economy and the effects of the dedicated and focused capital spending of over N1.2 trillion on infrastructure by the Federal Government.
“It is expected that the economy will continue to grow given these developments and the reform, and improvements in the business environment shown by the upward movement of 24 places in the recently released World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Rankings which was better than the target of 20 places specified in the ERGP.
“The overall picture that emerges is that the economy is on the path of recovery. As inflation trends downwards, and with steady implementation of the ERGP, real growth should soon be realised across all sectors in a mutually reinforcing manner,” the presidential adviser concluded.
In the GDP Report for Third Quarter 2017 released in Abuja on Monday, bureau stated that the figure showed the second consecutive positive growth since the emergence of the economy from recession in second quarter.
News Agency of Nigeria reports that NBS stated that the growth was 3.74 per cent points higher than the rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2016, which was –2.34 per cent.
It stated that it was also higher by 0.68 per cent points from the rate recorded in the preceding quarter, which was revised to 0.72 per cent from 0.55 per cent.
The second quarter was revised following revisions by NNPC to oil output and hence led to revisions to Oil GDP.
Quarter on quarter, the bureau stated that the real GDP growth was 8.97 per cent.
According to the report, the broad classification into the oil and non-oil sectors will give a clearer depiction of the Nigerian economy.
In the period under review, the report stated that oil production was estimated at 2.03 million barrels per day (mbpd) on average.
It stated it was 0.15 million barrels higher than the revised daily average production recorded in the second quarter of 2017 (revised from 1.84 mbpd to 1.87 mbpd).
It further noted that oil production during the quarter was higher by 0.42 million barrels per day relative to the corresponding quarter in 2016, which recorded an output of 1.61 mbpd.
Meanwhile, the report stated that the non-oil sector grew by –0.76 per cent in real terms during the reference quarter.
It stated that the figure was lower by -0.79 per cent point compared to the rate recorded same quarter, 2016 and -1.20 per cent point lower than in the second quarter.
The non-oil sector, the report stated was driven in the quarter under review mainly by Agriculture (Crop), other services and Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply.
In real terms, the report stated that the sector contributed 89.96 per cent to the nation’s GDP.
It, however, stated that the figure was lower than the share recorded in the third quarter of 2016 (91.91 per cent) and in the second quarter of 2017, which was 90.96 per cent.