Nigeria’s gross domestic product grew 1.92 percent in the last quarter of 2017 compared with a 1.73 percent contraction in the same period the previous year, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday.

Nigeria’s economy returned to growth in the second quarter of 2017 but the recovery has been fragile since it is largely due to higher oil prices. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in December that the economy remains vulnerable.

This growth is compared to a contraction of –1.73% recorded in Q4 2016 and a growth of 1.40% recorded in Q 2017.

Quarter on quarter, real GDP growth was 4.29%.

The year 2017 recorded a real annual growth rate of 0.83% higher by 2.42% than –1.58% recorded in 2016.

In the quarter under review, aggregate GDP stood at N31,209,137.74million in nominal terms higher when compared to N29,169,058.99 million in Q4 2016, resulting in a Nominal GDP growth of 6.99%. This growth is lower relative to growth recorded in Q4 2016 at 12.49%. Nominally, 2017 recorded an annual growth rate of 12.05% higher by 4.25% compared to 2016 annual growth of 7.80%. The broad classification into the oil and non-oil sectors will give a clearer depiction of the Nigerian economy.

The Oil Sector

In the period under review, Oil production averaged at 1.91million barrels per day (mbpd), -0.12million barrels lower than the daily average production recorded in the third quarter of 2017. Oil production during the quarter was higher by 0.15million barrels per day relative to the corresponding quarter in 2016, which recorded an output of 1.76mbpd.

The Non-Oil Sector
The non-oil sector grew by 1.45% in real terms during the reference quarter.  This is higher by 1.78% point compared to the rate recorded same quarter, 2016 and 2.21% point higher than in the third quarter of 2017. The non-oil sector recorded an annual growth of 0.47% compared to –0.22 in 2016. This sector was driven this quarter mainly by Agriculture (Crop), Trade and Transportation and storage. In real terms, the Non-Oil sector contributed 92.83% to the nation’s GDP, lower from share recorded in the fourth quarter of 2016 (93.25%) but higher than in the third quarter of 2017 (89.96%). Annual contribution was 91.32% and 91.65% in 2016.