Yemisi Izuora
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), has disclosed that the agriculture sector measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 18.58 per cent year-on-year in nominal terms in fourth quarter of 2018.
The bureau said four activities of crop production, livestock, forestry and fishing make up the agriculture sector.
The NBS disclosed this in its “GDP Report for the Fourth and Full Year 2018’’ posted on its website.
The report said the 18.58 per cent growth showed an increase of 8.45 per cent points from the same quarter of 2017, and 0.26 per cent points increase from third quarter, 2018.
According to the report, crop production remains the major driver of the sector, accounting for 89.84 per cent of nominal agriculture GDP.
On an annual basis, agriculture GDP grew by 14.27 per cent, higher than 11.29 per cent recorded in 2017.
The sector contributed 23.08 per cent to nominal GDP in fourth quarter, 2018 which was higher than its contribution in the preceding quarter (21.93 per cent) but lower than it was in third quarter, 2018 (25.52 per cent ).
On an annual basis, the sector contributed 21.42 per cent to nominal GDP in 2018.
In real terms, the agricultural sector grew by 2.46 per cent (year-on-year), a decrease by –1.78 per cent points from the corresponding period of 2017, but an increase of 0.55 per cent points from the preceding quarter.
The report said that annual 2018 growth was 2.12 per cent, which was lower than the 3.45 per cent recorded in 2017.
The sector contributed 26.15 per cent to overall GDP in real terms during the further quarter, slightly higher than the contribution in the fourth quarter of 2017 (26.13 per cent ), but lower than the third quarter of 2018 (29.25 per cent).
Agriculture sector contribution to real GDP in 2018 was recorded at 25.13 per cent, up from 25.08 per cent in 2017.
Meanwhile, the report said that the nominal GDP for the manufacturing sector was recorded at 33.57 per cent in the fourth quarter, which was higher in the corresponding period of 2017.
The report said it was 24.37 per cent points higher than the rate recorded in the corresponding period of 2017 (9.20 per cent) but only 0.84 per cent points higher than the preceding quarter’s (32.73 per cent).
Quarter-on -quarter, the growth of the sector stood at 6.62 per cent while the annual growth was 24.00 per cent in 2018.
The contribution of manufacturing to nominal GDP in fourth quarter, 2018 was 10.11 per cent, which was higher than its contribution in the corresponding period of 2017 (8.53 per cent) and third quarter, 2018 (10.01 per cent).
For 2018, the sector contributed 9.75 per cent to total nominal GDP, higher than its contribution of 8.83 per cent in 2017.
Real GDP growth in the manufacturing sector was recorded at 2.35 per cent in the fourth quarter 2018.
This, the report said, was higher than the 0.14 per cent recorded in the same quarter of 2017 and 1.92 per cent recorded in the preceding quarter.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the sector growth rate stood at 5.46 per cent, while the annual growth rate was 2.09 per cent in 2018.
The annual growth rate was a significant improvement over the previous year’s growth rate of –0.21 per cent.
The sector’s contribution to real GDP in fourth quarter, 2018 did not change from its 2017 share (8.86 per cent) and this was also reflected in the annual contribution.
It reflected in an annual contribution which rose only slightly from 9.18 per cent in 2017 to 9.20 per cent in 2018.
The manufacturing sector comprises of 13 activities: Oil Refining; Cement; Food, Beverages and Tobacco; Textile, Apparel and Footwear; Wood and Wood products and Pulp Paper as well as Paper products.
Others are Chemical and Pharmaceutical products; Non-metallic Products, Plastic and Rubber products; Electrical and Electronics, Basic Metal and Iron and Steel; Motor Vehicles and Assembly; and Manufacturing.