Nigeria’s economy expanded more slowly in the first quarter of 2019 than it did in the fourth quarter of last year, the National Bureau Statistics said on Monday.
The International Monetary Fund had, in its World Economic Outlook Update released in January, revised down the country’s Gross Domestic Product projection for this year to two per cent from the 2.3 per cent projected in October 2018.
The NBS, in its GDP Report for first quarter of 2019, said the GDP grew by 2.01 per cent in real terms in the first quarter, compared to 2.38 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2018.
Compared to the first quarter of 2018, which recorded real GDP growth rate of 1.89 per cent, the Q1 2019 growth rate represented an increase of 0.12 per cent points.
The NBS said, “It is worth noting that general elections were held across the country during the first quarter of 2019 and this may have reflected in the strongest first-quarter performance observed since 2015.
“Aggregate GDP stood at N31.79tn in nominal terms. This aggregate was higher than in the first quarter of 2018 which recorded N28.44tn, representing a year-on-year nominal growth rate of 11.80 per cent. The aggregate was, however, lower than in the preceding quarter of N35.23tn, by -9.75 per cent.”