The Nigeria gross domestic product (GDP) grew 3.4 percent in 2021, the strongest since 2014.
The figure is the first annual growth above 3 percent since President Muhammadu Buhari won the 2015 election.
In 2014, the economy grew 6.3 percent.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said this in its fourth-quarter GDP report released on Thursday.
According to the report, the GDP also posted a strong recovery of 3.98 percent in the fourth quarter of 2021 — but lower than the 4.03 percent in the third quarter.
“Nigeria Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 3.98%(year-on-year) in real terms in the fourth quarter of 2021, showing a sustained positive growth for the fifth quarter since the recession witnessed in 2020 when output contracted by -6.10% and -3.62% in Q2 and Q3 of 2020 under the Covid pandemic,” the report reads.
“The fourth quarter growth indicates a steady economic recovery accounting for annual growth of 3.40% in 2021.
“The Q4 2021 growth rate was higher than the 0.11% growth rate recorded in Q4 2020 by 3.87% points and lower than 4.03% recorded in Q3 2021 by 0.05% points. Nevertheless, quarter on quarter, real GDP grew at 9.63% in Q4 2021 compared to Q3 2021, reflecting a higher economic activity than the preceding quarter.”
“This performance is higher when compared to the fourth quarter of 2020 which recorded aggregate GDP of N43,564,006.29 million, indicating a year-on-year nominal growth rate of 13.11%. The nominal GDP growth rate in Q4 2021 was higher relative to 10.07% growth recorded in the fourth quarter of 2020 but lower compared to 15.41% growth recorded in the preceding quarter,” it added.
“The 2021 annual nominal growth stood at 13.92%. For better clarity, the Nigerian economy has been classified broadly into the oil and non-oil sectors.”
According to the report, the non-oil economy grew by 4.73% in the quarter from a year earlier, bolstered by 3.58 percent growth in agriculture and 5 percent in services. The oil sector contracted by 8.06 percent in the fourth quarter and an annual growth rate of -8.30 percent in 2021.