Nigeria’s manufacturing sector has continued to struggle, with the industry’s nominal GDP growth in the second quarter of 2022 standing at 5.21 percent year on year.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics‘ Nigerian Gross Domestic Product Report (Q2 2022), this was 33.12% lower than the figure recorded in the same period in 2021.
“Nominal GDP growth of the Manufacturing sector in the second quarter of 2022 was recorded at 5.21% (year on year), 33.12% lower than the figure recorded in the corresponding period of 2021 (38.33%) and 6.51% lower than the preceding quarter figure of 11.72%,” the report reads in part.
“Quarter-onQuarter, growth of the sector was recorded at -14.50% during the quarter. The contribution of Manufacturing to Nominal GDP in the second quarter of 2022 was 12.97%, lower than the figure recorded in the corresponding period of 2021 at 14.18% and lower than the first quarter of 2022 at 15.06%.”
The NBS report also indicated that real GDP growth in the manufacturing sector in the second quarter of 2022 was 3.00 per cent on a year-on-year basis, lower than the same quarter of 2021 and lower than the preceding quarter by 0.48 percentage points and 2.89 peer cent respectively.
The sector’s quarter-on-quarter growth rate was -15.47 percent. The real contribution to GDP in the second quarter of 2022 was 8.65%, which was lower than the 8.69% recorded in the second quarter of 2021 and lower than the 10.20% recorded in the first quarter of 2022.
In its Manufacturing CEOs Confidence Index for the second quarter of the year, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) said that business conditions in the quarter under review were more difficult than in the first quarter of the year, while employment conditions worsened.
According to the report, which measures changes in pulse of operators and trends in the manufacturing sector quarterly, in 2022 alone, manufacturers had faced severe foreign exchange scarcity, forcing many firms out of business.
The central bank raised the Monetary Policy Rate from 11.5 to 14%, and diesel and gas prices have skyrocketed as a result of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
MAN President, Engr. Mansur Ahmed, recently spoke about some of the challenges confronting the manufacturing sector, stating that over-reliance on imported raw materials had become an albatross for the industry.