Nigerian manufacturing output rises by only 2%

The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO)’s World Manufacturing Production Statistics for Quarter I, 2018, says that Nigeria’s manufacturing output rose by just two percent in the first quarter of this year.

The report says that there was lower growth in major African economies, with manufacturing output rising by 1.1 percent in Egypt, 2.0 percent in Nigeria and 1.5 per cent in South Africa. This shows that Nigeria is not, after all, a laggard in manufacturing on the continent.

Estimates based on limited data showed some slowdown in Africa, where manufacturing output rose by 1.9 percent in the first quarter of 2018, lower than 2.3 percent in the last quarter of 2017.

According to estimates, global manufacturing output rose by 4.2 percent in the first quarter of 2018, which was slightly lower than 4.7 per cent of the last quarter of 2017.

The manufacturing output of industrialised economies rose by the lower rate of 2.9 percent in the first quarter of 2018, compared to 3.5 per cent in the last quarter of 2017. The manufacturing output growth of China, which accounts for a quarter of global manufacturing production, also fell marginally, to 6.3 percent in the first quarter of 2018 from 6.8 percent in previous quarter.

According to UNIDO’s World Manufacturing Production Statistics for Quarter I, 2018 report, the full impact of tariff uncertainties on the dynamics of global manufacturing is yet to be seen as the first quarter figures indicate only a marginal slowdown. Observed growth rates are still high but deceleration is visible in all country groups, including the developing and emerging industrial economies where manufacturing output increased by 4.8 percent in the first quarter of 2018 compared to 5.3 percent in the previous quarter.

The manufacturing of European industrialised economies, which hit record high growth of 5.0 percent in the last quarter of 2017, rose by 4.1 percent in the first quarter of 2018. Among the major economies, manufacturing output rose by 4.2 per cent in Germany and 4.6 percent in Italy. However, the performance of France was much weaker, at 2.0 percent.

A number of European Union (EU) economies achieved high manufacturing growth in the first quarter of 2018. Manufacturing output rose by 6.4 per cent in Austria, 5.8 per cent in Estonia and 9.3 per cent in Slovenia.

Among non-EU economies, high growth was observed in Belarus: 9.9 percent and Serbia 6.0 percent, while growth was marginal in Norway and the Russian Federation.

The manufacturing output of the United States rose by 2.5 percent in the first quarter. In East Asia, manufacturing output rose by 2.6 per cent in Japan and 5.2 per cent in Malaysia. However, manufacturing output dropped in the Republic of Korea.

Among emerging industrial economies, India performed well, with 7.0 percent growth. Among other fast growing economies, manufacturing output rose by 5.5 per cent in Indonesia and Vietnam.

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