ICT Sector Contributes 16% to GDP in Q1 2022

The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, has revealed that the Information and Communication Technology, ICT sector made a 16.20 per cent contribution to Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter of 2022.

This shows an increase of 5.60 per cent from the rate recorded in the corresponding period of 2021.
Quarter-on-Quarter, the sector recorded a growth of -9.09 per cent in real terms, revealing that the information and communication sector outperformed the agricultural and manufacturing sectors.

According to GDP figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics, the ICT sector contributed 15.21 per cent and 16.20 per cent to real GDP in Q4 2021 and Q1 2022 respectively.

Of the total GDP contribution of the sector, telecommunication and information services contributed 79.88 per cent (N2.25tn) of the total contribution of the sector in Q1 2022 and 82.89 per cent (N2.56tn) of the total contribution of the sector in Q4 2021.

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The agricultural sector in the first quarter of 2022 achieved a 3.16 per cent growth (year-on-year) in real terms.

This is an increase of 0.88 per cent from the corresponding period of 2021 and a decrease of 0.42 per cent from the preceding quarter, which recorded a growth rate of 3.58 per cent. It grew on a quarter-on-quarter basis at -28.90 per cent.

The non-oil sector comprises economic activities in Information and Communication, Agriculture, Mining & Quarrying, Manufacturing and Education etc.

NBS data revealed that the non-oil sector – in real terms – posted a 93.37 per cent contribution to the nation’s GDP in the first quarter of 2022. This represents a 2.62 points increase to the share recorded in the first quarter of 2021 – 90.75 per cent.

According to the report, the non-oil sector grew by 6.08 per cent in real terms during the reference quarter (Q1 2022). This rate was higher by 5.28 per cent points compared to the rate recorded in the same quarter of 2021 and 1.34 per cent points higher than the fourth quarter of 2021.

The ICT sector posted a significant contribution – 16.20 per cent – to the impact made by the non-oil sector in the Nigerian GDP Report Q1 2022.

During the period under review, the Information and Communications sector contributed 10.55 per cent to the total nominal GDP in Q1 2022 and 9.88 per cent in Q4 2021.

According to the NBS, gross output for the telecommunication and information services subsector is gotten from revenue from telephone, telex, facsimile, telegraph, and other income from satellite and internet services.