LIVE UPDATES
The Nation Bureau of Statistics, NBS has revealed that the Information and Communications Technology, ICT, sector added 19.78 per cent growth to Nigeria’s real Gross Domestic Product, GDP in Q2 2024.
This posits an increase in contribution as against 19.54 per cent recorded in the same period last year.
The sector also recorded an increase in contribution, compared with the preceding quarter.
The NBS data showed that ICT contributed 17.89 per cent to the real GDP of the economy in Q1 2024, driven largely by the telecommunications industry, with the ICT sector segmented into four activities by NBS to include telecommunications and information services; publishing; motion picture, sound recording, and music production; and broadcasting.
According to the data of NBS, “In nominal terms, in the second quarter of 2024, the sector growth was recorded at 11.86 per cent (year-on-year), 29.81 per cent points decrease from the rate of 41.67 per cent recorded in the same quarter of 2023, and 2.08 per cent points lower than the rate recorded in the preceding quarter.
“The quarter-on- quarter growth rate recorded in the second quarter of 2024 was 11.91 per cent. The information and communications sector contributed 14.19 percent to the total Nominal GDP in the second quarter of 2024, lower than the rate of 14.83 per cent recorded in the same quarter of 2023 and higher than the 13.12 per cent it contributed in the preceding quarter.
“The sector in the second quarter of 2024 recorded a growth rate of 4.44 per cent in real terms, year-on-year. From the rate recorded in the corresponding period of 2023, there was a decrease of 4.16 per cent points.
“On a quarter-on-quarter, the sector exhibited a growth of 10.60 per cent in real terms. Of total real GDP, the sector contributed 19.78 per cent in the second quarter of 2024, higher than in the same quarter of the previous year in which it represented 19.54 per cent and higher than the preceding quarter in which it represented 17.89 per cent,” NBS revealed.
The telecom industry, which is dominated by mobile network operators, including MTN, Globacom, Airtel, 9mobile, and Internet Service Providers, ISPs, is also driving a lot of activities in every other sector of the economy.
