Household consumption data of N42.5 trillion confirms understated GDP

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has released latest personal consumption figures for Nigeria, showing that consumption expenditure for Nigerian households was N42.5 trillion in 2012.

The figure is larger than the previously unrebased total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $262 billion (N41.6 trillion) for 2012, throwing more light into how understated Nigeria’s GDP was previously.

Household consumption expenditure (HCE), often the largest component when measuring GDP by expenditure; was equivalent to 58.9 of the rebased GDP of 70.07 trillion in 2012, according to analysis of the NBS data.

Nigeria recently rebased its GDP figures with the results showing an economy that is more diversified than earlier thought, and surpassing South Africa’s to become the largest on the continent, and 26^th in the world.

The new rebased data shows that the size of the Nigerian economy is now estimated at N80.3 trillion ($510 billion) for 2013, Yemi Kale, head of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), said at a press conference to announce the results in Abuja.

The data showed diverse sectors contributing to economic activity including Agriculture which contributed N17.26 trillion, Trade N13.35 trillion, Crude Petroleum and Natural gas N11.55 trillion, Telecoms N6.97 trillion, Real estate N6.43 trillion, Manufacturing N5.47 trillion, Food Beverages and Tobacco N3.70 trillion, Finance and Insurance N2.64 trillion, and motion picture, sound recording and music production N1.13 trillion.

The nine sectors listed above contributed 85.4 percent of total GDP.

Most governments overhaul GDP calculations every few years to reflect changes in output and consumption, such as telecoms, financial services and internet usage.

Nigeria had not done so since 1990 (about 24 years) suggesting that the previous GDP framework underestimated economic activity.

PATRICK ATUANYA