The Nigerian economy continued to expand at a sluggish rate in the third quarter of 2019 after state data agency, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), reported a 2.28 percent growth for the period.
Nigeria’s low growth problem has lingered since the exit from recession in 2016. The last time the economy grew in real per capita GDP terms, which factors in population growth, was in 2014.
The economic downturn is being reflected in the fortunes of listed companies, with stocks down some 14 percent on average since the start of 2019. Households are also being tortured by rising unemployment and weak purchasing power. It’s no wonder poverty rate has climbed.
Despite obvious economic challenges with government policy and infrastructure, some sectors managed to outperform the broader economy in the third quarter.
In fact, the top five fastest-growing sectors averaged a growth rate of 8.05 percent, which is about four times faster than growth in the broader economy.
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Transportation and Storage (18.24%)
Moving people or things was the biggest deal in Nigeria in the third quarter according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) which showed 18.24 year-on-year growth in the transportation and storage sector.
This growth was on the back of a more-than-double expansion of road transportation which hit 20.18 percent yearly combined with high growth air transport sub-sector which at 15.23 percent yearly growth was one of the fastest expanding in the quarter.
Quarterly, the sector rebounded from a slow second quarter where growth dipped to about 8 percent from almost 20 percent in the first three months of the year.
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Information and Communication (9.88%)
Telecommunications and Information Services sub-sector grew by 12.16 percent to put the Information and Communication sector in second place with a growth of almost 10 percent.
On a quarterly basis, this is the fastest the sector has grown so far in the year although publishing and broadcasting sub-sectors did not do well in the latest quarter published.
Mining and Quarrying (6.19%)
Although the mining and quarrying sector lost a little bit of steam quarterly, the sector struck gold year-on-year with a growth of 6.19 percent in the third quarter of 2019 compared to -2.81 percent a year ago.
What changed? A lot; Crude Petroleum and Natural Gas went up from less than one percent annual growth in the third quarter of 2018 to almost seven percent in the latest published quarter.
Also, coal mining sprung from negative to about 32 percent to turbocharge the sector. Metal Ores was the exact opposite plunging from around 17 percent to minus seven percent while Quarrying and other minerals followed suit.
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Administrative and Support services (3.05%)
Maybe a growth rate not as exciting as the previous sectors but definitely faster than the broader economy and population.
Administrative and Support services grew the fastest in seven quarters at least given its rate of 3.05 percent in the third quarter of 2019.
Arts, Entertainment and Recreation (2.89%)
The “creative” sector ranked as one of the top five in terms of growth rate seen in the third quarter of 2019 with a rate of 2.89 percent.
The performance is not the best so far in the year but is a rebound from a much slower second-quarter performance.
Construction (2.37%)
The construction sector grew by 2.37 percent year-on-year to rank as the sixth overall fastest-growing sector in the third quarter of 2019.
On a quarterly basis, the sector more than doubled its previous performance while it surged compared to 2018 third-quarter reading of 0.54 percent.
On the other hand, the laggards in the third quarter were Electricity, Gas, Steam and Air Conditioning Supply (-11.81%), Professional, Scientific and Technical Services (-2.62%), Real Estate (-2.31%), Water Supply, Sewerage, Waste Management and Remediation (-1.9%) and Trade (-1.45%).
