ABUJA, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Nigerian government said Wednesday that the country's economy is firmly on the path of growth, as its latest gross domestic product (GDP) figures indicates the strongest performance since the economy emerged from recession in 2017.
According to the latest figure by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released on Tuesday, Nigeria's GDP grew 2.38 percent in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2018, also the strongest growth since the economy slipped into recession in 2016.
In a statement made available to Xinhua in Abuja, Minister of Budget and National Planning Udoma Udo Udoma said the report showed that economic activities in the country have picked up well.
"In short, we have turned the corner and are now firmly on the path of growth," Udoma said.
The full year 2018 real GDP stood at 1.93 percent, higher than the 0.82 percent growth rate recorded in 2017.
Particularly notable in the latest GDP report is that the growth is driven by the non-oil sector which recorded its strongest growth since Q4 of 2015.
Despite the growth in other sectors, however, oil is Nigeria's mainstay.
"This current real GDP growth performance is most encouraging and shows a movement in a very positive direction, especially with regard to the non-oil sector performance," the minister said.
In Q2 of 2017, Nigeria exited its worst recession in two decades. To help strengthen the economy, the government introduced the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) to enhance growth in the non-oil sector.
Udoma said Nigeria's implementation of the ERGP was yielding positive results, likewise improvement in its oil production to take advantage of the slight recovery in global oil prices.
The Q4 report released by the NBS showed that the oil sector contributed 7.06 percent to real GDP in the quarter under review, down from figures recorded in the corresponding period of 2017 and the preceding quarter, where it contributed 7.35 percent and 9.38 percent respectively.
On the other hand, the non-oil sector grew by 2.70 percent in real terms during the quarter under review.
The figure was 1.25 percentage points higher than the growth rate recorded in Q4, 2017, and 0.38 percentage points higher than the growth rate recorded in Q3, 2018.
On an annual basis, the non-oil sector recorded a growth rate of 2.00 percent in 2018, performing considerably better than 0.47 percent seen in 2017.
The NBS report indicated that the key performing activities during the Q4 were information and communication, transportation and storage, arts and entertainment, agriculture, as well as manufacturing.
