The National Planning Commission, NPC, has said that Cross River State’s Gross Domestic Product, GDP, dropped to N1.28 trillion in 2011 from N1.32 trillion achieved in 2010.

The supervising Minister for NPC, Mr. Bashir Yuguda, made the disclosure in Calabar.

Yuguda attributed the drop in the state’s GDP by N40 billion to the drop in the state’s oil revenue during the period.
The national statistics also showed that the state’s industrial production declined by 66 per cent in the period under review against an earlier fall of 70 per cent recorded in 2009.

“Agriculture grew from 20 per cent to 23 per cent within the same period and the services sector grew from 10 per cent in 2009 to 11 per cent in 2011,” he said.

Yuguda said that the agriculture sector was growing faster, especially in the area of crops production, adding that there was need for the diversification of the state’s economy.

He said that Cross River State was among the seven pilot states from the six geo-political zones used to understudy the national economy.
The other states are Rivers, Anambra, Gombe, Lagos, Niger and Kano.

Yuguda said that the report specifically showed the state of the economy in the seven states, using agriculture, industry and the services sector.
Governor Liyel Imoke lauded NPC and the National Bureau of Statistics for the exercise, adding that it would guide the state properly in policy planning and implementation.

“When we know what our GDP is, it will enable us to deliver the needed democracy dividends to our people. The presentation has given us the size of our economy for proper planning,” he said.