Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on an annual scale expanded by 2.74% in 2023, a slight deceleration from the 3.10% growth rate achieved in 2022.
This represents the slowest growth since 2020 when the economy contracted by –1.92% due to the pandemic.
For Q4 2023, the economy experienced a growth of 3.46% on a year-on-year basis in Q4 of 2023. This rate of expansion signifies a slight decrease from the 3.52% growth observed in Q4 of 2022, yet it marks an improvement over the 2.54% growth rate seen in Q3 of 2023.
Recommended reading: Nigeria records 2.54% GDP growth rate in Q3 2023
Drivers of GDP growth
The primary driver of this economic growth in the final quarter of 2023 was the Services sector, which not only grew by 3.98% but also contributed significantly, accounting for 56.55% of the total GDP.
Meanwhile, the Agriculture sector also saw a modest increase in its growth rate, moving from 2.05% in the fourth quarter of the previous year to 2.10% in the same quarter of 2023.
In the fourth quarter of 2023, Nigeria’s industry sector witnessed a growth rate of 3.86%, marking a significant recovery from the -0.94% decline observed in the same period of 2022.
Oil sector
In Q4 2023, the oil sector experienced a substantial year-on-year real growth of 12.11%, which is a 25.50 percentage point increase from the -13.38% decline seen in the same quarter of 2022.
Additionally, this growth marked an improvement of 12.96 percentage points over the -0.85% recorded in Q3 2023. However, on a quarter-on-quarter basis, the sector saw a contraction of -3.81% in Q4 2023.
Non-oil sector
For the year 2023, growth in the non-oil sector was recorded at 3.04%, a decrease from the 4.84% observed in 2022.
In the reference quarter of Q4 2023, the non-oil sector’s real growth rate reached 3.07%. This represents a decrease of 1.37 percentage points from the growth rate in the corresponding quarter of 2022, yet it shows an increase of 0.32 percentage points over the growth rate in Q3 2023.
Recommended reading:10 fastest growing sectors of the Nigerian economy in 2023
