ICT Contribution to GDP Rises by 0.97% in Q1 2020

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has disclosed that Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry’s contribution to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product has grown by 0.97 in Q1 2020.

The performance of the ICT sector was contained in the Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product Report published by NBS.

According to report, ICT sector contributed 14.07 per cent as against 13.1 per cent contributed in Q4 2019.

The report observed that the country’s GDP grew by 1.87% (year-on-year) in real terms in Q1 2020. The non-oil sector contributed 90.50% to the nation’s GDP in Q1 2020 as opposed to the 9.50% contributed to total real GDP by the oil sector.

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Patanmi has however declared the development as unprecedented in a statement signed by the Technical Assistant (Information Technology) to the minister, Dr Femi Adeluyi.

Patanmi noted that the growing contribution of the ICT sector to the GDP was a direct result of the focused and committed effort of the administration of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd).

Other contributing factors, according to the minister, are the inclusion of digital economy in the mandate of the ministry, the unveiling and implementation of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy and the National Broadband Plan, among others.

He observed that the COVID-19 pandemic had shown how critical the ICT sector was to the growth of the country’s economy.

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From total real GDP, the sector contributed 13.1 percent in Q4 2019, higher than 12.4 percent contributed in the same quarter of the previous year, 2018, and higher than 11.3 percent it contributed in the preceding quarter, Q3 2019.

For the full year 2019, the sector contribution stood at 13.0 percent, higher than the 2018 rate of 12.2 percent. Quarter on quarter, the sector exhibited a growth rate of 22.2 percent in real terms, while the 2019 annual growth rate was recorded at 9.2 percent.