In its Q2 2024 GDP Report on Monday, the Bureau said Nigeria’s GDP rose year-on-year in real terms in the second quarter of 2024.

“This growth rate is higher than the 2.51% recorded in the second quarter of 2023 and higher than the first quarter of 2024 growth of 2.98%,” the NBS stated.

The NBS said the performance of the GDP in the second quarter of 2024 was driven mainly by the services sector, which recorded a growth of 3.79% and contributed 58.76% to the aggregate GDP.

“The agriculture sector grew by 1.41%, from the growth of 1.50% recorded in the second quarter of 2023. The growth of the industry sector was 3.53%, an improvement from -1.94% recorded in the second quarter of 2023.

“In terms of share of the GDP, the industry and services sectors contributed more to the aggregate GDP in the second quarter of 2024 compared to the corresponding quarter of 2023.

“In the quarter under review, aggregate GDP at basic price stood at N60,930,000.58 million in nominal terms.

“This performance is higher when compared to the second quarter of 2023 which recorded aggregate GDP of N52,103,927.13 million, indicating a year-on-year nominal growth of 16.94%,” the Bureau stated.

This marks a 0.24% increase from May 2024’s inflation rate of 33.95%.

“In June 2024, the headline inflation rate increased to 34.19% relative to the May 2024 headline inflation rate which was 33.95%,” stated the NBS in its Consumer Price Index (CPI) report, which tracks the average change over time in the prices of goods and services consumed for day-to-day living, released on Monday.

“On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 11.40% points higher compared to the rate recorded in June 2023, which was 22.79%.”

The NBS also noted a month-on-month increase in the inflation rate for June 2024, which stood at 2.31%, a 0.17% rise from May 2024’s rate of 2.14%.

This indicates a higher rate of price increases in June 2024 compared to May 2024.

Food inflation also saw a significant rise in June 2024 compared to May 2024. The month-on-month food inflation rate for June 2024 was 2.55%, showing a 0.26% increase from May 2024’s rate of 2.28%.

This increase was driven by higher prices for food items such as groundnut oil, palm oil, water yam, cocoyam, cassava, tobacco, catfish, croaker, mudfish, and snail.

In response to the rising prices of essential commodities, the Federal Government has implemented several measures to address the challenge.

These include suspending duties, tariffs, and taxes on the importation of maize, husked brown rice, wheat, and cowpeas for 150 days and approving the procurement of 2,000 tractors and 1,200 trailers.

Additionally, a committee has been established to find solutions to the ongoing food crisis.

Experts attribute the rising inflation to issues such as insecurity, lack of equipment, and other factors affecting food production in Nigeria.

According to the latest report from the bureau, the nation’s current growth rate stands at 2.98%, showing an increase from the 2.31% recorded in the same quarter in 2023 but a decrease from the 3.46% recorded in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2023.

The NBS released this information in its GDP report for Q1 2024.

“Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 2.98% (year-on-year) in real terms in the first quarter of 2024. This growth rate is higher than the 2.31% recorded in the first quarter of 2023 and lower than the fourth quarter of 2023 growth of 3.46%,” the report read.

“The performance of the GDP in the first quarter of 2024 was driven mainly by the Services sector, which recorded a growth of 4.32% and contributed 58.04% to the aggregate GDP.

“The agriculture sector grew by 0.18%, from the growth of -0.90% recorded in the first quarter of 2023. The growth of the industry sector was 2.19%, an improvement from 0.31% recorded in the first quarter of 2023.

“In terms of share of the GDP, the services sector contributed more to the aggregate GDP in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the corresponding quarter of 2023.”

This marks a month-over-month increase of 0.49 percentage points, as reported in the latest Consumer Price Index.

Year-over-year data reveals a substantial rise, with April 2024’s inflation rate 11.47 percentage points higher than the 22.22% recorded in April 2023. This indicates a significant annual increase in the headline inflation rate.

However, the month-to-month inflation rate for April 2024 was 2.29%, 0.73 percentage points lower than the 3.02% recorded in March 2024, suggesting a slower rate of price increases in April compared to March.

The report stated, “In April 2024, the headline inflation rate increased to 33.69% from 33.20% in March 2024, showing an increase of 0.49 percentage points month-over-month. Year-on-year, the inflation rate rose by 11.47 percentage points from 22.22% in April 2023. ”

Food inflation also saw a decrease, dropping by 1.11 percentage points.

The month-to-month food inflation rate for April 2024 was 2.50%, down from 3.62% in March 2024, driven by a slower rate of increase in the average prices of basic food commodities.

It is contained in the NBS Rail Transportation Data for Q4 2023 released in Abuja on Monday.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria, the report showed a decrease of 7.51 per cent compared to the N1.15 billion generated in Q4 of 2022.

It further explained that the revenue from goods/cargoes swelled by 169.16 per cent to N423.22 million from N157.23 million generated in the same period of the previous year.

Other receipts, according to the data grew by 3.02 per cent from the N382.17 million recorded in Q4 2022 to N393.72 million recorded in Q4 2023.

According to the report, “the number of rail transport passengers in Q4 2023 declined by 49.73 per cent to 672,198 instead of 1,337,108 in the prior period.”

It explained that on an annual basis, the number of rail transport passengers decreased by 32.08 per cent, from 3,212,948 recorded in 2022 to 2,182,388 recorded in 2023, saying that the revenue received from passengers declined by 2.64 per cent in 2023 from the N4.55 billion recorded in 2022 to N4.43 billion in 2023.

The National Bureau of Statistics stated that the volume of cargo and revenue from cargo in 2023 increased by 102.04 per cent and 144.32 per cent respectively, compared with 2022.

The CPI, measuring changes in the prices of goods and services, showed a 0.72% point increase compared to November 2023, when the inflation rate was at 28.20%.

The report further detailed that on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate for December 2023 was 2.29%, indicating a 0.20% rise from November 2023 (2.09%).

This suggests a faster rate of increase in the average price level in December 2023 compared to the previous month.

Food inflation also witnessed a notable increase, reaching 33.93% on a year-on-year basis, representing a 10.18% point rise from December 2022 (23.75%).

The NBS attributed the surge in food inflation to higher prices of bread and cereals, oil and fat, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fish, meat, fruit, milk, cheese, and eggs.

This escalating food inflation comes in the wake of President Bola Tinubu declaring a state of emergency on food security six months ago.

The President emphasized the need for collaboration between the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Water Resources to ensure continuous farmland irrigation and year-round food production.

Additionally, he proposed the establishment of a National Commodity Board to monitor and regulate food prices, maintaining a strategic food reserve to stabilize prices of essential grains and food items.

This growth rate surpasses the 2.25% recorded in Q2 2022 and is an improvement from the 2.51% growth in the second quarter of 2023. The primary driver of this growth was the service industry.

According to the ‘Nigerian Gross Domestic Product Report (Q3, 2023)’ released on Thursday, the Services sector played a pivotal role, exhibiting a growth of 3.99%, contributing 52.70% to the overall GDP.

The agriculture sector also contributed to the positive growth with a 1.30% increase compared to the third quarter of 2022.

The industry sector showed improvement with a growth rate of 0.46%, a significant improvement from the -8.00% recorded in the third quarter of 2022.

However, in terms of their share in the GDP, both the agriculture and industry sectors contributed less to the aggregate GDP in the third quarter of 2023 compared to the same period in 2022.

In nominal terms, the aggregate GDP for the quarter stood at N60.66 trillion, indicating a year-on-year nominal growth of 16.08%, surpassing the Q3 2022 aggregate GDP of N52.26 trillion.

This positive growth reflects the resilience and improvement in Nigeria’s economic performance during the stated period.

This marks a significant increase of 1.72% points compared to the previous month’s rate of 24.08%.

The report highlights that this substantial rise is a direct consequence of the removal of petrol subsidy and the devaluation of the official exchange rate, both of which have had a pronounced impact on consumer prices.

Month-on-month inflation also experienced an uptick, reaching 3.18% in the review month, up from the 2.89% recorded in the preceding month.

Analyzing the contributions to the year-on-year inflation rate, it is evident that Food and non-alcoholic beverages (13.36%) had the most substantial impact, followed by housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuel (4.32%), and clothing and footwear (1.97%).

Breaking down the inflation rates by location, the Urban inflation rate for August 2023 stood at 27.69%. This represents a notable 6.73% point increase compared to the 20.95% recorded in August 2022.

In parallel, the Rural inflation rate reached 24.10%, reflecting a 3.98% point surge from the 20.12% recorded in August 2022.

Meanwhile, food inflation escalated to 29.34% in August 2023, signifying a 2.35% point rise from the previous month’s 26.98% and a substantial 6.22% point increase from the corresponding period in 2022.

On a month-on-month basis, the Food inflation rate for August 2023 reached 3.87%, up by 0.41% points compared to the rate in July 2023 (3.45%). The average annual rate of Food inflation for the twelve months ending in August 2023 was 25.01%, marking a substantial 5.99% point increase from the average annual rate recorded in August 2022 (19.02%).

Regionally, in the month under review, Kogi (31.50%), Lagos (29.17%), and Rivers (29.06%) reported the highest all items inflation rates on a year-on-year basis, while Sokoto (20.91%), Borno (21.77%), and Nasarawa (22.25%) recorded the slowest rise in headline inflation over the same period.

For food inflation on a year-on-year basis, Kogi (38.84%), Lagos (36.04%), and Kwara (35.33%) posted the highest rates, whereas Sokoto (20.09%), Nasarawa (24.35%), and Jigawa (24.53%) had the slowest increase in food inflation over the same timeframe.

According to the NBS report on Monday, the second quarter of 2023 alone accounted for VAT revenues amounting to N781.35 billion, signifying a remarkable quarter-on-quarter growth rate of 10.11% compared to N709.59 billion in the first quarter of the year.

Analyzing the data further, it becomes evident that local payments accounted for N512.03 billion, foreign VAT payments reached N142.63 billion, and import VAT contributed N126.69 billion in the second quarter of 2023.

The NBS highlighted that, on a quarter-on-quarter basis, the activities of extra-territorial organizations and bodies exhibited the highest growth rate, soaring by an impressive 212.06%, followed closely by real estate activities with a growth rate of 123.09%.

Conversely, activities such as households functioning as employers and undifferentiated goods- and services-producing activities of households for personal use experienced the lowest growth rate, standing at -57.06%. Agriculture, forestry, and fishing also posted a negative growth rate of -32.86%.

In terms of sectoral contributions, the top three sectors with the largest shares in the second quarter of 2023 were manufacturing, accounting for 29.64%; information and communication, contributing 21.19%; and financial and insurance activities, making up 11.18% of the total.

On the other hand, activities of households as employers and undifferentiated goods- and services-producing activities of households for personal use held the smallest share at 0.01%, followed by water supply, sewerage, waste management, and remediation activities, as well as activities of extraterritorial organizations and bodies, each accounting for 0.05%.

The release of this data is part of the “Nigeria Labour Force Survey,” as published on the NBS website on Thursday.

Notably, the unemployment landscape exhibited a significant shift, with a decrease from 5.3% in Q4 2022 to 4.1% in Q1 2023.

This decline reflects a remarkable change compared to the 33.3% unemployment rate reported by the NBS for Nigeria in 2020.

The observed reduction in unemployment figures is attributed to the NBS’s adoption of a refined metric to gauge unemployment, showcasing a more nuanced understanding of the employment scenario in the country.