The nation’s economy expanded more slowly in the first quarter of 2019 than it did in the fourth quarter of last year, the National Bureau Statistics said on Monday.

The International Monetary Fund had, in its World Economic Outlook Update released in January, revised down the country’s Gross Domestic Product projection for this year to two per cent from the 2.3 per cent projected in October 2018.

The Q1 2019 growth rate represented an increase of 0.12% points when compared to Q1 2018 which recorded real GDP growth rate of 1.89%.

However, the real GDP growth rate declined by -0.38% points when compared to Q4 2018 when the growth rate was 2.38%.

“Aggregate GDP stood at N31,794,085.85 million in nominal terms. This aggregate was higher than in the first quarter of 2018 which recorded N28,438,604.23 million, representing a year on year nominal growth rate of 11.80%.

“The aggregate was, however, lower than in the preceding quarter of N35,230,607.63 million, by -9.75%. The nominal GDP growth rate in Q1 2019 was higher than the rate recorded in Q1 2018 by 2.54% points,” the report read.

The oil sector contributed 9.14% to total real GDP in Q1 2019, down from figures recorded in the corresponding period of 2018 but up compared to the preceding quarter, where it contributed 9.55% and 7.06% respectively.

The non-oil sector contributed 90.86% to the nation’s GDP, higher than recorded in the first quarter of 2018 (90.45%) but lower than the fourth quarter of 2018 (92.94%).

In Q1 2019, the non-oil sector was driven mainly by information and communication technology followed by agriculture, transportation and storage, trade and construction.