The contribution of the manufacturing sector to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in real terms declined to N1.5 trillion in the second Quarter ended June 2023 (Q2’230).

This represents a 17.24 percent Quarter-on-Quarter (Q-o-Q) decline compared to N1.8 trillion contribution recorded in the first quarter of the year (Q1’23).

The Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, NBS, had reported that the nation’s economy grew by 2.51% in Q2’23 compared to 2.31% in Q1’23.

The growth implies 11th consecutive quarter of economic growth, though lower than the 3.54% recorded in Q1’22.

The Bureau also reported that the real GDP for Q2’23 stood at N17.72 trillion, a 0.17 percent decrease from N17.75 trillion in Q1’23.

The manufacturing sector contribution to real GDP in percentage terms also fell to 8.40 percent from 10.13 percent in Q1’23.

Meanwhile, the real GDP growth in the manufacturing sector in the second quarter of 2023 was 2.20 percent, 0.81 percentage points higher than its growth level in the preceding quarter at 1.61 percent.

Comment on this development, Dr. Muda Yusuf, the chief executive of the Center for Promotion of Private Enterprise, CPPE, said: “The Nigerian economy is still going through corrective reforms to remove some fundamental distortions and restore the economy back to the path of recovery and growth.

But implementing the reforms is an arduous task.

“The trade offs are profound and the social impact has been devastating. “Given the inevitability of the reforms the implementation calls for a delicate balancing act and strategic sequencing to ensure an inclusive economic transition.

“The adverse impacts of the reforms were disproportionately higher than expected. However, a rebound of the economy is expected in the medium to long term as current distortions in the economy are corrected.”