The Nigerian Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 2.98% year-on-year in the first quarter (Q1) of 2024. This shows an increase of 0.67 percentage points from the 2.31% growth rate recorded in Q1 2023.
However, quarter-on-quarter, the economy slowed down from the 3.46% growth posted in Q4 2023, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data released on Friday.
During the quarter, the services sector contributed 58.04% to the country’s GDP, as it grew by 4.32% during the quarter.
Also, the top five contributing activities turned out to be crop production, trade, telecommunications, crude petroleum and natural gas, and financial services. They contributed 62.25% to the country’s GDP.
Based on the Q1 2024 GDP report by the NBS, here are the five largest sectors in the Nigerian economy.
- Finance and Insurance – 6.81%
This sector comprises financial institutions and insurance. In Q1 2024, financial institutions accounted for 93.19% of the sector, while insurance made up 6.81%.
- During the quarter, the sector’s total contribution reached 6.81%, which was a 1.44 percentage-point increase from the 5.31% recorded in Q1 2023. This was also 1.86 percentage points higher than the 4.95% reported in Q4 2023.
- The sector is also one of the fastest growing in the economy, as it expanded by 31.24% year-on-year in Q1 2024. This marks a 9.87 percentage-point growth from the 21.37% growth rate posted in Q1 2023.
- Manufacturing – 9.98%
In Q1 2024, manufacturing contributed 9.98% to the real GDP, down from the 10.13% contribution by the sector in Q1 2023 but a 1.90 percentage-point increase from the 8.23% contribution by the sector in the preceding quarter (Q4 2023).
- The sector grew by 1.49% during the quarter, a 0.12 percentage-point drop from the 1.61% growth rate in Q1 2023.
- Trade – 15.70%
Trade was the third largest contributor to the country’s GDP in Q1 2024 with 15.70%, slightly lower than the 15.97% recorded in the previous year but higher than the 15.50% noted in the fourth quarter of 2023.
- During the quarter, the sector grew by 1.23%, which was 0.08 percentage points lower than the 1.31% growth rate recorded in Q1 2023 and 0.17 percentage points lower than the 1.40% growth rate in the preceding quarter (Q3 2024).
- Information and Communication Sector – 17.89%
According to the NBS, the information and communication sector comprises telecommunications and information services, publishing, motion pictures, sound recording and music production, and broadcasting.
- In Q1 2024, the sector contributed 17.89% to the country’s GDP, making it the second largest contributor to the country’s economy. This signifies a 0.42 percentage-point increase from the sector’s 17.47% contribution in Q1 2023 and a 1.23 percentage-point increase from its 16.66% contribution in Q4 2023.
- Agriculture – 21.07%
The agricultural sector comprises four sub-activities which are crop production, livestock, forestry, and fishing.
- The sector contributed 21.07% to the GDP, with crop production alone accounting for 19.24% of this figure.
- This represents a decrease from the contributions in the first quarter of 2023, which stood at 21.66%, and the fourth quarter of 2023, which stood at 26.11%.
- In Q1 2024, the agricultural sector grew by 0.18% year-on-year, up by 1.08 percentage points from Q1 2023 but down by 1.92 percentage points from the previous quarter’s growth rate of 2.10%.
What you should know
Despite missing out on this list, the oil and gas sector contributed 6.38% to the GDP in Q1 2024. The increase in oil production during the quarter to an average of 1.57 million bpd from the preceding quarter’s 1.55 million bpd was a contributory factor to the sector’s 5.70% growth during the quarter.
- The real estate sector also contributed 5.20% to the GDP in Q1 2024, as it grew by 0.84% during the quarter. Other significant contributors to the sector include construction which contributed 4.01% to the GDP during the quarter.
- The construction sector in Q1 2024 contracted by 0.29% year-on-year, in contrast with the 37.7% growth posted by the sector in Q1 2023.