Tony Chukwunyem 
Banks and other financial institutions, excluding insurance, contributed N3.28 trillion to Nigeria’s real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the first nine months of this year, latest data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows.
The amount represents an increase of 31.75 per cent or N790.84 billion when compared with the N2.49 trillion that the financial institutions contributed to GDP in the corresponding period of 2023.
New Telegraph’s analysis of the “Nigerian GDP Report Q3’24,” recently released by the NBS, indicates that banks and other financial institutions, excluding insurance, contributed N1.160 trillion to the country’s real GDP, in the first quarter of 2024, N1.103 billion in Q2’24 and N1.02 trillion in Q3.
With the NBS report showing that the insurance contributed N273.63 billion to the country’s real GDP in the first nine months of the year, it means that the entire financial sector’s contribution to the GDP during the period amounted to N3.56 trillion.
The report stated: “The Finance and Insurance Sector consists of the two subsectors, Financial Institutions, and Insurance, in which the former accounted for 91.76 per cent and the latter 8.24 per cent of the sector respectively in real terms in Q3’24.
Overall, the sector grew at 74.54 per cent in nominal terms (year-on-year), with the growth rate of Financial Institutions at 75.99 per cent and 59.8 per cent growth rate recorded for insurance. “The overall rate was higher than Q3’23 by 44.34 per cent points, and lower by 12.05 per cent points than the preceding quarter.
The quarter-on-quarter growth was -13.80 per cent. The sector’s contribution to the nominal GDP was 4.72 per cent in Q3 2024, higher than the 3.17 per cent it represented a year previous, and lower than the contribution of 6.39 per cent it made in the preceding quarter.
“Growth in this sector in real terms totaled 30.83 per cent, higher by 2.62 per cent points from the rate recorded in the 2023 third quarter and higher by 2.04 per cent points from the rate recorded in the preceding quarter. Quarter-on-quarter growth in real terms stood at -7.73 per cent.
