Nigeria’s growth picks up in the third quarter, thanks to services

Nigeria’s economy grew faster than in the first two quarters of the year in the third quarter (NGGDPQ=ECI), by 3.46% year-on-year (opens new tab of 2024).

Growth in the gross domestic product (GDP) was mostly due to the services sector, which made up more than half of all output from July to September.

Growth picked up from 3.19% in the second quarter to 2.98% in the first, but it was still below the 6% goal President Bola Tinubu set when he took office last year in Nigeria, which has the most people and makes the most oil in Africa.

Tinubu’s quick push for change in the first few weeks of his presidency gave people hope that he could finally get Africa’s slow-moving economic giant to reach its full potential.

But 18 months later, the main parts of his plan to change the economy—devaluing the naira and getting rid of subsidies—have caused the worst cost of living crisis in a generation and haven’t led to much faster growth yet.

The National Bureau of Statistics reported that the services sector grew by 5.19 percent in the third quarter and made up 53.5 eight percent of the total GDP.

The oil industry in Nigeria, which brings in most of the country’s money and foreign exchange, grew by 5.17 percent, bringing the average daily oil output (NGOIL=ECI) up from 1.41 million barrels per day (bpd) in the second quarter to 1.47 million bpd.

Agriculture’s growth slowed from 1.41% in the second quarter to 1.14%, while businesses’ growth slowed from 3.53% in April-June to 2.18%.

The World Bank thinks that Nigeria’s economy will grow by 2.9% in 2024 and by 3.2% the following year.