Nigeria’s economy slows sharply to 2.31% on cash crunch
Nigeria’s economic growth plunged in the first three months of this year on the back of the cash scarcity brought on by the currency redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The Gross Domestic Product grew by 2.31 percent (year-on-year) in real terms in the first quarter of 2023, data released on Wednesday by the National Bureau of Statistics show.
The growth rate declined from 3.11 percent recorded in the first quarter of 2022, and 3.52 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022.
“The reduction in growth is attributed to the adverse effects of the cash crunch experienced during the quarter,” the NBS said.
It said the performance of the GDP in Q1 2023 was driven mainly by the services sector, which recorded a growth of 4.35 percent and contributed 57.29 percenr to the aggregate GDP.
The statistics office said, “The agriculture sector grew by -0.90 percent, lower than the growth of 3.16 percent recorded in the first quarter of 2022.
“Although the growth of the industry sector improved to 0.31 percent relative to – 6.81 percent recorded in the first quarter of 2022, agriculture, and the industry sectors contributed less to the aggregate GDP in the quarter under review compared to the first quarter of 2022.”