NBS: Nigeria’s GDP rate grew by 3.13% in Q1 2025 after rebasing
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says Nigeria’s economy grew by 3.13 percent in the first quarter (Q1) of 2025, up from 2.27 percent recorded in the same period last year.
In a statement released on Monday, the NBS said the growth was largely driven by the services sector, which recorded a 4.33 percent increase and contributed 57.50 percent to the aggregate GDP.
“Following the rebasing of the Gross Domestic Product using 2019 as the base year, previous quarterly GDP estimates were benchmarked to the rebased annual estimates to align the old series to the new rebased estimates,” NBS said.
“This procedure provided new quarterly GDP series, which are compared to the 2025 first quarter estimates. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 3.13% (year-on-year) in real terms in the first quarter of 2025.
“This growth rate is higher than the 2.27% recorded in the first quarter of 2024.”
In nominal terms, aggregate GDP stood at N94.05 million in Q1 2025 — an 18.30 percent increase from N79.50 million in the same period of 2024.
The bureau noted that while nominal GDP captures the total value of goods produced without adjusting for inflation, real GDP reflects inflation-adjusted growth.
NBS said Nigeria’s oil sector recorded an average daily production of 1.62 million barrels per day (mbpd) during the quarter under review.
“This is higher than the daily average production of 1.57 mbpd recorded in the same quarter of 2024 by 0.05 mbpd and higher than the fourth quarter of 2024 production volume of 1.54 mbpd by 0.08 mbpd,” the bureau said.
The oil sector contributed 3.97 percent to the total real GDP in Q1 2025 — a marginal drop from 4.02 percent in Q1 2024, but higher than the 2.80 percent recorded in Q4 2024.
“The real growth of the oil sector was 1.87% (year-on-year) in Q1 2025, indicating a decrease of 2.85% points relative to the rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2024 (4.71%).
“Growth decreased by 0.22% points when compared to Q4 2024, which was 2.08%.
“On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the oil sector recorded a growth rate of 13.81% in Q1 2025.”
According to the report, the non-oil sector grew by 3.19 percent in real terms in Q1 2025.
“This rate was higher by 1.02% points compared to the rate recorded in the same quarter of 2024, which was 2.17% and lower than the 3.80% recorded in the fourth quarter of 2024,” NBS said.
Telecommunications, crop production, real estate, financial institutions, trade, construction, and food-related manufacturing drove the sector’s performance.
“In real terms, the non-oil sector contributed 96.03% to the nation’s GDP in the first quarter of 2025, higher than the share recorded in the first quarter of 2024, which was 95.98%, and lower than the fourth quarter of 2024, recorded as 97.20%.”
In January, NBS had hinted that the rebased GDP data would capture modular refineries, illegal operations, and hidden economic activities, with the revised numbers originally scheduled for release by the end of that month.
