By Juliet Umeh
Information and Communications Technology, ICT sector contributed 15.21 per cent to the total real GDP, as the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS rounded its quarterly GDP report for Q4, 2021.
The sector’s contribution, according to NBS is higher than in the same quarter of the previous year in which it represented 15.06 per cent and higher than the preceding quarter in which it represented 14.20 per cent.
However, on nominal terms, the sector’s contribution to the Gross Domestic Product, GDP, dropped from 10.58 per cent in 2020 to 9.88 per cent at the end of 2021. This is despite the increased activities in the ICT space.
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Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, ICT contribution to the GDP skyrocketed. So, this decline would not be unconnected to the opening up of physical activities as against the lockdown period when every activity was basically online. The NBS GDP report also showed that the growth rate slowed to 5.70 percent, against 16.32 percent growth rate in the previous year. The figure represents10.62 per cent lower growth rate.
The ICT sub-sectors captured in the report include publishing, motion picture, sound recording and music production as well as broadcasting.
The report said: “In nominal terms, in the fourth quarter of 2021 the sector growth was recorded at 5.70 per cent (year-on-year), 10.62 per cent points decrease from the rate of 16.32 per cent recorded in the same quarter of 2020, and 5.47 per cent points lower than the rate recorded in the preceding quarter.
“The Quarter-on- Quarter growth rate recorded in fourth-quarter 2021 was 17.10 per cent, while annual growth stood at 5.75 per cent in 2021.”
“The Information and Communications sector contributed 9.88 per cent to total Nominal GDP in the 2021 fourth quarter, lower than the rate of 10.58 per cent recorded in the same quarter of 2020 and higher than the 9.22 per cent it contributed in the preceding quarter.
“The sector in the fourth quarter of 2021 recorded a growth rate of 5.03 per cent in real terms, year on year.
From the rate recorded in the corresponding period of 2020, there was a decrease of 9.92 per cent points. Quarter on Quarter, the sector exhibited a growth of 17.43 per cent in real terms, while annual growth stood at 6.55 per cent in 2021.
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