Nigeria’s economy grows by 3.84% fastest in three years in fourth quarter

Nigeria’s national account or Gross Domestic Product for the fourth quarter of 2024 from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) show that GDP grew by +3.84 per cent, an improvement from +3.46% y/y recorded in Q3’ 24.  GDP expanded  by 3.40 per cent for FY ’24  from 2.74 per cent in  FY ’23. Further analysis showed that the oil sector grew by +1.48 per cent y/y in Q4 ’24 from +5.17 per cent in Q3 ’24. According to the NBS, crude oil production averaged 1.54mbpd in Q4 ’24, from 1.47mbpd in Q3 ’24. The non-oil sector increased by 3.96% y/y in Q4 ’24 from +3.37% y/y in Q3 ’24 
The NBS said the economy gained pace in the fourth quarter of 2024, growing at its fastest in three years driven mainly by its services sector, data showed on Tuesday. Gross domestic product grew 3.84 per cent in annual terms, more than the 3.46 per cent reported in the third quarter of 2024, the 3.19 per cent seen in the second quarter and 2.98 per cent in the first. Fourth-quarter growth was led by the services sector which grew Full-year growth accelerated to 3.40 per cent last year from 2.74 per cent in 2023, it said.
The growth rate, however, is still short of the 6 per cent target set by President Bola Tinubu when he took office in mid-2023 in Africa’s most populous nation. Nigeria plans to rebase its GDP data to better reflect the current economic landscape after doing the same for its consumer price index. The rebasing aims to account for growth in sectors, such as the marine economy, arts, culture and tourism, information and communication technology, and e-commerce, all of which have expanded significantly since the last rebasing in 2014. That adjustment helped Nigeria leapfrog South Africa to become Africa’s largest economy, but it has since fallen back due to Naira devaluations under Tinubu’s leadership. Tinubu implemented bold reforms in the first months of his administration to try to finally unleash the country’s full economic potential.
Last year the World Bank said Nigeria was beginning to reap the benefits of the policy reforms. Average daily oil output was 1.54 million barrels per day in the final three months of 2024, little changed from 1.56 million a year earlier, the data showed. Growth in agriculture was 1.76%, while industrial output expanded 2.00%. The International Monetary Fund forecasts Nigeria’s economy will grow 3.2% this year.