The top five sectors of the Nigerian economy as of Q1 2024

In the first quarter (Q1) of 2024, Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 2.98% year-on-year. This represents an increase of 0.67 percentage points compared to the growth rate of 2.31% recorded in the first quarter of 2023.

However, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) published on Friday, the economy has slowed down quarter by quarter from the 3.46% growth recorded in the fourth quarter of 2023.

The services sector contributed 58.04% to the country’s GDP this quarter and its growth was 4.32% this quarter.

Moreover, the five most important branches of activity were plant production, trade, telecommunications, oil and natural gas, and financial services. Their contribution to the country’s GDP was 62.25%.

Based on the NBS GDP report for the first quarter of 2024, here are the top five sectors of the Nigerian economy.

Finance and Insurance – 6.81%

This sector includes financial institutions and insurance. In the first quarter of 2024, financial institutions accounted for 93.19% of the sector, and insurance 6.81%.

In the quarter, the total share of the sector was 6.81%, which means an increase of 1.44 percentage points compared to 5.31% recorded in the first quarter of 2023. It is also 1.86 percentage points higher than the 4.95% recorded in the fourth quarter 2023
This sector is also one of the fastest growing in the economy, as it grew by 31.24% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2024. This represents an increase of 9.87 percentage points compared to the growth rate of 21.37% recorded in Q1 2023.

Production – 9.98%

In the first quarter of 2024, the share of the manufacturing sector in real GDP was 9.98%, which is a decrease compared to the sector’s contribution in the first quarter of 2023, which was 10.13%, but represents an increase of 1.90 percentage points compared with the sector’s contribution of 8.23% in the previous quarter (Q4 2023).

The sector grew 1.49% this quarter, down 0.12 percentage points from the growth rate of 1.61% in the first quarter of 2023.

Trade – 15.70%

The third largest factor creating the country’s GDP in the first quarter of 2024 was trade, whose share amounted to 15.70%, slightly less than 15.97% in the previous year, but more than 15.50% recorded in the fourth quarter of 2023.

During the quarter, the sector grew by 1.23%, or 0.08 points. percent less than the growth dynamics recorded in the first quarter of 2023, which amounted to 1.31%, and by 0.17 points. percent less than the growth rate of 1.40% in the previous quarter (Q3 2024).

Information and Communication Sector – 17.89%

According to the NBS, the information and communication sector includes telecommunications and information services, publishing, films, sound recordings and music production, and broadcasting.

In the first quarter of 2024, this sector contributed 17.89% to the country’s GDP, which ranks it second in terms of its share in the country’s economy. This represents an increase of 0.42 percentage points compared to the sector share of 17.47% in Q1 2023 and an increase of 1.23 percentage points compared to the sector share in Q4 2023 of 16.66 %.

Agriculture – 21.07%

The agricultural sector consists of four sub-activities, which are plant production, animal breeding, forestry and fishing.

The sector’s share in GDP was 21.07%, and plant production itself accounted for 19.24% of this value.
This means a decrease compared to the contributions in the first quarter of 2023, which amounted to 21.66%, and in the fourth quarter of 2023, which amounted to 26.11%.
In the first quarter of 2024, the agricultural sector grew by 0.18% year-on-year, an increase of 1.08 percentage points compared to the first quarter of 2023, but a decrease of 1.92 percentage points compared to the growth rate in previous quarter, which was 2.10%.

What you should know

Even though the oil and gas sector was not included in this list, the contribution of the oil and gas sector to GDP in the first quarter of 2024 was 6.38%. The increase in crude oil production during the quarter to an average of 1.57 million barrels per day compared to 1.55 million barrels per day in the previous quarter contributed to the sector’s growth by 5.70% during the quarter.

The real estate sector also contributed 5.20% to GDP in Q1 2024, with a growth of 0.84% in the quarter. Other significant factors influencing the sector include construction, which contributed 4.01% to GDP this quarter.
The construction sector contracted by 0.29% year-on-year in Q1 2024, compared to the sector’s growth of 37.7% in Q1 2023.