By Aliyu DANLADI
The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma has expressed delight over the fourth quarter, 2018 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) released on Tuesday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The report shows that the real GDP grew by 2.38 per cent, indicating the strongest quarter growth since the economy slipped into recession in 2016.
The full year 2018 real GDP stood at 1.93 per cent, higher than the 0.82 per cent growth rate recorded in 2017.
Udoma, while reacting to the report from Uyo, Akwa Ibom in a statement in Abuja, said the figures showed a clear indication of recovery as the economy continued to show signs of improvement.
The report showed the growth was largely driven by the non-oil sector which grew by 2.70 per cent in the quarter, posting a growth of 2.0 per cent for full year 2018.
This represented the strongest growth in non-oil GDP since the fourth quarter of 2015.
Also, the report showed that services sector recorded best performance in 11 quarters, while 39 out of 46 economic activities recorded growth in the quarter under review.
Udoma, however, said the figures showed that the policies, programmes and projects across various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and other sectors of the economy as set out in the Economy and Recovery Growth Plan (ERGP) were yielding results.
“Adherence to the ERGP has resulted in the economy coming out of recession and heading toward sustainable economic growth
“The growth performance observed that the encouraging result in GDP growth is also consistent with improvements in other indicators of the economy.
“It showed improvement in other indicators such as inflation, foreign reserves, exchange rates, trade balance and capital inflows, among others,’’ the minister said.
According to the minister, he is happy and most encouraged as these indices showed an economy that is on the mend and the path of recovery to sustained growth.
“It is a clear indication that our programmes and policies are on the right track,” Udoma said.
The breakdown of the report showed that the non-oil sector grew by 2.70 per cent in real terms during the quarter under review.
The figure was 1.25 per cent points higher than the growth rate recorded in fourth quarter, 2017, and 0.38 per cent points higher than the growth rate recorded in third quarter, 2018.
On an annual basis, the non-oil sector recorded a growth rate of 2.00 per cent in 2018, performing considerably better than 0.47 per cent seen in 2017.
The key performing activities during the quarter were Information and communication, Transportation and Storage, Arts and Entertainment and Agriculture as well as Manufacturing.
The report further said that the Non-Oil sector contributed 92.94 per cent to real GDP in the fourth quarter of 2018, slightly higher than the 92.65 per cent seen in the fourth, 2017.
