ICT Contributes N8.5tn To Nominal GDP In Six Months
TECH DIGEST – The Information and Communications sector contributed a combined N8.5tn to the country’s nominal Gross Domestic Product in fourth quarter of 2020 and the first quarter of 2021.
This was revealed by an analysis of GDP data for the two quarters under review obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics.
According to the NBS, the information and communication sector is composed of the four activities of telecommunications and information services; publishing; motion picture, sound recording and music production; and broadcasting.
According to Investopedia, nominal GDP is an assessment of economic production in an economy that includes current prices in its calculation.
In simple terms, it doesn’t strip out inflation or the pace of rising prices, which can inflate the growth figure. All goods and services counted in nominal GDP are valued at the prices that are actually sold for in that year.
In Q1 2021, aggregate GDP stood at N40.01 in nominal terms, indicating a year-on-year nominal growth rate of 12.25 per cent, compared to N35.65tn in Q1 2020.
The nominal GDP growth rate in Q1 2021 was higher compared to 12.01 per cent growth recorded in Q1 2020 and the 10.07 per cent growth recorded in the preceding quarter.
In Q1 2021, the sector grew at 7.86 per cent (year-on-year), 1.07 per cent lower than the rate of 8.94 per cent recorded in the same quarter of 2020, and 8.46 per cent lower than the rate recorded in the preceding quarter.
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The information and communications sector contributed 9.91 per cent to total nominal GDP in Q1 2021, lower than the rate of 10.31 per cent recorded in the same quarter of 2020 and 10.58 per cent contributed in the preceding quarter.
In Q4 2020, the GDP grew by 0.11 per cent in real terms, while aggregate GDP stood at N43.56tn in nominal terms. This performance is higher when compared to Q4 2019, which recorded a GDP aggregate of N39.58tn, representing a year-on-year nominal growth rate of 10.07 per cent.
In nominal terms, the information and communications sector recorded 16.32 per cent growth (year-on-year) in the fourth quarter of 2020, a 6.46 per cent points increase from 9.86 per cent recorded in the same quarter of 2019, and 0.41 per cent points from rates recorded in the preceding quarter.
The sector contributed 10.58 per cent to total nominal GDP in the Q4 2020, higher than the 10.01 per cent recorded in the same quarter of 2019 and the 9.57 per cent it contributed in the preceding quarter.
The TechDigest had earlier in the year reported that the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, said the ICT sector recorded the highest growth rate among all the sectors of the Nigerian economy in both the fourth quarter of 2020 and the entire year of 2020.
According to the minister, the ICT sector is a catalyst for the diversification and growth of the economy.
The GSMA Association said in its ‘The Mobile Economy 2021’ report that in 2020, mobile technologies and services generated $4.4tn of economic value added (5.1 per cent of GDP) globally. It said that this figure would grow by $480bn by 2025 to nearly $5tn.
It added that the mobile industry supported approximately 25 million jobs (directly and indirectly) and made a substantial contribution to the funding of the public sector, with more than $410bn raised through taxes on the sector.
