Nigeria’s manufacturing sector’s contribution to real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the first quarter of the year shrank to 9.62 per cent from 9.76 per cent a year ago, according to the country’s latest GDP report issued by the statistics office on Monday.
Nevertheless, the figure was an improvement over that of the fourth quarter of 2024, which stood at 7.6 per cent.
The 2 per cent quarter-on-quarter increase in manufacturing’s contribution to GDP was achieved in a period during which the exchange rate recorded a reasonable stability, providing the sector, which is heavily dependent on imports, with some measure of relief from the fx volatility pressures that hampered operations in the second half of 2023 and the first half of last year.
The exchange rate, which opened at N1,535 to a dollar at the start of the year, closed at N1,532 at the end of the first quarter, with the local currency marginally appreciating by 0.2 per cent.
“Nominal GDP growth of the manufacturing sector in the first quarter of 2025 was 42.40% (year-on-year), 39.05% points higher than the figure recorded in the corresponding period of 2024 (7.31%) and 29.25% points higher than the preceding quarter figure of 13.14%,” the report stated.
“The contribution of manufacturing to nominal GDP in the first quarter of 2025 was 10.78, higher than the figure recorded in the corresponding period of 2014 at 8.95% and higher than the fourth quarter of 2024 at 9.27%,” it added.
Meanwhile, trade grew year-on-year in real terms by 1.8 per cent during the period, 0.53 per cent weaker than the 2.3 per cent recorded in the corresponding period of last year. The figure was 0.3 per cent lower than that of the preceding quarter.
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Trade as a share of real GDP fell to 18.2 per cent from 18.5 per cent. However, it posted an increase from the 17.2 per cent reported in the fourth quarter of 2024.
In nominal terms, trade expanded by 9.1 per cent year on year. Trade ‘s contribution to nominal GDP in the review period diminished to 15.5 per cent from 16.8 per cent a year ago.
That compares to the 19.2 per cent reported in the fourth quarter of 2024.
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