In 2024, Nigeria’s finance and insurance sectors played a significant role in boosting the country’s real GDP growth, contributing 6.22%, an improvement from 4.97% in 2023. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released the fourth-quarter GDP report, revealing that the overall annual GDP growth rate for 2024 was 3.40%, surpassing the 2.74% growth rate of 2023. While the agriculture and industrial sectors experienced a slowdown, the services sector, including finance and insurance, showed strong performance in the past year.
The services sector’s contribution to GDP increased to 27.78% in 2024, albeit slightly lower than the previous year. The finance and insurance subsectors saw remarkable growth, with financial institutions growing by 83.07% and insurance companies by 66.65%. The overall performance of the non-oil sector, which includes finance and insurance, grew by 3.96% in Q4 2024, showing resilience and less dependence on oil revenue. Financial institutions alone contributed 5.76% to the GDP, placing them among the top five contributors.
Despite the positive performance of the non-oil sector, which accounted for 95.40% of GDP in Q4 2024, challenges persist in other sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing. Analysts from Comercio Partners highlighted that while Nigeria’s economy is increasingly reliant on services like finance and telecommunications, efforts must be made to strengthen sectors like agriculture and manufacturing through policy intervention and infrastructure development. They emphasized the importance of digital transformation and mobile penetration in driving growth, particularly in financial services and telecommunications.
Looking ahead, experts project Nigeria’s GDP to grow by approximately 5% in 2025, driven by structural reforms, improved infrastructure, and reduced inflation. While Nigeria’s economy is leaning heavily on services, continued diversification and policy consistency are essential to sustaining growth. Analysts stress the need for focused efforts to bolster agricultural productivity and manufacturing output, ensuring the economy remains resilient to global shocks and external uncertainties.
SOURCE: PUNCH