‘Low income’ Manufacturers woes continue as industry shrinks by 33%

Nigeria’s manufacturing sector has continued to navigate through hard times as the nominal GDP growth of the industry in the second quarter of 2022 was recorded at 5.21 per cent on a year-on-year basis.

According to the Nigerian Gross Domestic Product Report (Q2 2022) published by the National Bureau of Statistics, this was 33.12 per cent points lower than the figure recorded in the corresponding period of 2021.

The report read in part, “Nominal GDP growth of the Manufacturing sector in the second quarter of 2022 was recorded at 5.21% (year-on-year), 33.12% points lower than the figure recorded in the corresponding period of 2021 (38.33%) and 6.51% points lower than the preceding quarter figure of 11.72%.

“Quarter-on Quarter, 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 growth rate of the sector on a quarter-on-quarter basis stood at -15.47 per cent. Real contribution to GDP in 2022 second quarter was 8.65 per cent, lower than the 8.69 per cent recorded in the second quarter of 2021 and lower than the 10.20 per cent 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 said that business conditions in the quarter under review were more challenging than what obtained in the first quarter of the year just as 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 has raised the Monetary Policy Rate from 11.5  to 14 per cent, and the prices of diesel and gas have skyrocketed due to the Russia-Ukraine war.

While speaking recently on some of the challenges bedeviling the manufacturing sector, MAN President, Engr. Mansur Ahmed, said over-reliance on imported raw materials had become an albatross for the industry.

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