THURSDAY, 21st October, 2021: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a whopping 50 per cent in the aviation sector's contribution to the nation's Gross Domestic Product.
According to analysis of the Gross Domestic Product data published by the National Bureau of Statistics shows that the contribution of the aviation sector to the economy slumped by 50.09 per cent between 2018 and 2021.
The NBS’ GDP report is published every quarter and it shows the performance of each sector in terms of their contribution to the economy.
It was recorded that aviation, transport, tourism and hospitality sectors were among the worst-hit industries as the COVID-19 pandemic led to lockdown of countries as nations shut their borders.
Air travel was almost grinded to a halt as airlines parked hundreds of aircraft and laid off thousands of workers.
According to NBS data, aviation sector’s contribution to the GDP slumped by 50.09 per cent from 0.09 per cent of the GDP in Q2 2018 to 0.05 per cent in Q2 2021.
Its contribution rose by 10.17 per cent to 0.1 per cent of the GDP in Q2 2019 but dropped by 50.08 per cent to 0.05 per cent of the GDP in 2020.
According to the NBS, six activities make up the transportation and storage sector:  road transport; rail transport and pipelines; water transport; air transport; transport services; and post and courier services.
The Q2 2021 numbers showed that the transport sector’s contribution to the GDP rose to N209.79bn, representing 1.26 per cent of the N16.69tn GDP and a 68.37 per cent increase YoY.
Overall, the contribution of the transport sector to the total GDP shrunk by 3.70 per cent between Q2 2018 and Q2 2021. Also, the sector contributed an average of 1.17 per cent between Q2 2018 and Q2 2021.
Of the six activities that make up the transportation and storage sector, the largest contributors on the average over the period were road transportation (N168.01bn), air (N12.22bn), and transport services (N10.90bn).
While the aviation sector’s contribution to GDP slumped by 50.09 per cent from 0.09 per cent of the GDP in Q2 2018 to 0.05 per cent in Q2 2021, the transport services saw a 6.41 per cent decline from 0.07 per cent of the GDP in Q2 2018 to 0.06 per cent of the GDP in Q2 2020.