Nigeria’s economic growth hits three-year low in 2023

Nigeria’s economy expanded by 2.74 percent in 2023, marking the slowest pace of growth in three years, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) today.

This figure falls short of the government’s initial projection of 3.75 percent growth and raises concerns about the country’s continued economic resilience, especially at a time of severe cost-of-living crisis.

The government projected a more robust performance of the gross domestic product of more than 3.10 percent and 3.40 percent recorded in the two previous years.

But the expansion slowed under the weight of naira devaluation and fuel subsidy removal that stoked inflation, making businesses and individuals to cut spending, with many firms closing or retrenching.

Q4 Growth Underperforms

The final quarter of 2023 saw a decline too, with GDP growth reaching 3.46%. While this surpasses the 3.42% growth recorded in the third quarter, it falls short of the 3.52% growth achieved a year earlier.

“The performance of the GDP in the fourth quarter of 2023 was driven mainly by the Services sector, which recorded a growth of 3.98% and contributed 56.55% to the aggregate GDP,” said the NBS.

Notably, the oil sector, which is Nigeria’s biggest revenue earner, made its weakest contribution in four quarters at 4.70%. Ironically, the country pumped 1.55 million barrels of oil per day, the highest since the third quarter of 2021.