Nigeria's economy grows steadily as oil output rises

By Elisha Bala-Gbogbo

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's economy grew 3.46% in the fourth quarter, a similar pace as it did a year earlier, data showed on Thursday, as oil output picked up and government reforms to boost growth began to take effect.

Gross domestic product grew quicker than in the two previous quarters of 2023. GDP grew 2.54% in the third quarter and 2.51% in the second.

Growth in the final quarter of 2022 was 3.52% in annual terms.

The pickup in growth came as reforms instituted by President Bola Tinubu, who pledged during his inauguration in May to expand the economy by at least 6% annually, began to take effect.

Tinubu made bold changes including ending a costly fuel subsidy and devaluing the country's naira currency twice in less than a year to try to lift sluggish growth.

But these reforms have stoked price pressures, sending inflation to almost 30% in January, its the highest in nearly three decades.

President Tinubu said during a November budget speech that the economy was expected to grow by at least 3.76% in 2024.

The National Bureau of Statistics said full-year growth for 2023 stood at 2.74%.

"The performance of the GDP in the fourth quarter of 2023 was driven mainly by the services sector, which recorded a growth of 3.98% and contributed 56.55% to the aggregate GDP," the statistics office said.

Growth in the agriculture and industrial sectors, which create jobs, improved marginally during the period, compared with a year ago, the data showed.

Average daily oil output rose to 1.55 million barrels per day, up from 1.34 million a year ago.

Nigeria relies on oil production for about two-thirds of government earnings and 90% of its foreign exchange income.

"The real growth of the oil sector was 12.11% year-on-year in Q4 2023, indicating an increase of 25.5% points relative to the rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2022 at -13.38%," said the statistics office.

(Reporting by Elisha Bala-Gbogbo; Editing by Alexander Winning and Christina Fincher)