The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN, in its Half Yearly review of the economy, stated that the Nigerian economy picked up in 2021 after the country exited the 2020 recession in the fourth quarter of 2020.
The fourth quarter report of NBS in 2021 revealed the fifth positive growth after the recession, which reflected the return of economic activities in the country. Although, the data revealed a steady progress, but the impact is not felt as the economy is still struggling with galloping inflationary pressure, rising unemployment rate, exchange rate volatility, surging debt profile amongst others.
“According to the World Bank prediction, the economy was expected to grow by 1.8 percent in 2021 based on the projected recovery of crude oil prices and resumption of economic activities in the global market but the instability in the macroeconomic situation of the country coupled with the incessant insecurity situation in the country threatens the expected result”.
“The NBS statistics for 2021 fourth quarter recorded a fall in GDP growth to 3.98 percent from 4.03 percent recorded in the third quarter of 2021. The data shows that the economy increased by 3.87 point when compared with 0.11 percent recorded in the fourth quarter of 2020 and contracted by 0.05 point when compared with 4.03 percent recorded in the preceding quarter of 2021″, the report revealed.
“The drop in the recorded growth rate in the third and fourth quarter revealed that the economy grew at a slower pace which is largely due to the base effects of the negative growth recorded in 2020 coupled with the macroeconomic and insecurity instability in the country. This development called for consistent and collective effort to enact and implement policies that will improve economic activities across the productive sectors of the economy”, noted the report.
It is also necessary that Government ensure adherence of the citizens to safety measures to control the spread of COVID-19 and other variants of the disease and implement necessary reforms in the health sector to sustain and improve the growth of the country.
The Manufacturing sector recorded a growth rate of 2.28 percent in the fourth quarter of 2021 which revealed an increase of 3.79 point when compared with -1.51 percent recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2020. However, the sector’s performance contracted by 2.01 point in comparison to 4.29 percent recorded in the preceding quarter of 2021.
The positive performance recorded in the manufacturing sector in year 2021 is attributed to the palliative measures imposed by Government to salvage the sector from the effect of Covid 19 pandemic. Nevertheless, to improve and reposition the sector back as the engine of growth, there is need to maintain those policies and formulate others that will encourage investments especially on the stability of exchange rate, development of local raw materials, protection of lives and properties among others.
Talking on Non-Oil Sector Performance, the report said the NBS Statistics for 2021 fourth quarter revealed that the non-oil sector output increased to 4.73 percent from 1.69 percent recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2020; thus indicating 3.04 point increase over the period, however, the output declined by 0.71 point when compared with 5.44 recorded in the preceding quarter. In the same vein, NBS recorded that the sector contributed 94.81 percent to GDP indicating an increase of 0.68 point when compared with 94.13 percent recorded in the fourth quarter of 2020, the contribution also recorded 2.3 point increase when compared to 92.51 percent recorded in the preceding quarter of 2021
According to NBS report, the performance of the sector was mainly driven by Agriculture (Crop Production); trade; Information and Communication (Telecommunication); and Financial and Insurance (Financial Institutions).
Accessing the Oil Sector Performance, MAN said the oil sector statistics revealed an increase in the GDP growth rate to -8.06 percent in the fourth quarter of 2021 from -19.76 percent recorded in corresponding quarter of 2020; indicating an increase of 11.70 point over the period, it also depicts an increase of 2.67 point when compared with -10.73 percent recorded in the third quarter of 2021.
However, the sectors contribution to GDP dropped to 5.19 percent from 5.87 percent recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2020, indicating 0.68-point reduction over the period, the sector’s contribution also revealed 2.3-point increase when compared with 7.49 percent recorded in the third quarter of 2021.
