The supplementary workforce helped companies administer rising workloads, whereas backlogs of effort declined for the second consecutive month, albeit marginally.
The September PMI results, Stanbic IBTC said, reinforces the position for a broader-based expansion of Nigeria’s economy, alongside increasing contributions from non-oil sectors expected to assist stronger GDP growth in 2026.
Nigeria’s economy is projected to develop by on 4.4 per cent in 2026, up from 3.87 per cent recorded in 2025, as stronger operation across the non-oil sectors continues to continue the country’s growth base, Stanbic IBTC Bank has projected.
The bank said manufacturing, information and communications technology (ICT), swap, valuation document, and finance and insurance are expected to be large contributors to the stronger growth attitude, amid sustained improvement in personal sector phase.
Director of Equity Analysis, West Africa, at Stanbic IBTC Bank, Muyiwa Oni, said the solid results recorded at the conclude of the third quarter indicated that the economy was gaining momentum, including the bank estimating 4.56 per cent year-on-year GDP growth in Q3 2026.
“The non-oil sector is expected to carry out enhanced in 2026 compared to 2025 as further sectors contribute to improvement in GDP growth rate this year,” Oni said.
According to him, the three comprehensive sectors of the economy are expected to account improved output, together with manufacturing projected to acquire the biggest increase, partly due to low statistical base effects from 2025.
He added that ICT, swap, valuation describe, and support and insurance were plausible to stay the biggest drivers of growth in the services sector.
The projection came as the headline Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose sharply to 56.4 in September from 54.3 in August, reaching its highest rank as February 2022.
The up-to-date PMI reading signalled the most pronounced expansion in individual sector measure in additional than four years, alongside modern orders and output both increasing at their fastest rates because February 2022.
Stanbic IBTC said the expansion was general-based, together with marked improvements recorded across all four categories monitored in the survey, reflecting stronger client require and the introduction of novel products.
The bank said the powerful restricted sector results in the third quarter provided guide for expectations of sustained growth in the non-oil economy by manner of the final quarter of the year.
Still, the acceleration in economic operation was accompanied by renewed charge pressures, together with companies reporting faster increases in statistics and selling prices during September.
According to the Stanbic IBTC Bank Nigeria PMI announce, obtain rate inflation accelerated to a three-month high at the terminate of the third quarter.
Businesses attributed the greater costs generally to increased fuel prices and their effect on transportation, as well as rising prices of animal feed, foodstuffs and other raw materials.
Crew costs additionally increased at a faster pace as companies sought to cushion employees against upper living costs and provided incentives for workers completing projects on schedule.
The rise in feedback and labour costs subsequently translated into increased selling prices, together with output price inflation reaching its fastest pace as June.
Despite the price pressures, companies significantly increased their purchasing phase, resulting in the largest accumulation of inventories seeing that the complete of 2021.
The declare moreover noted that well-timed payments to suppliers helped confirm prompt deliveries, whilst vendor operation improved for the third uninterrupted month.
Employment increased modestly during the month, even albeit countless of the recent hires were temporary workers.
Source: Non-oil Sectors To Lift Nigeria’s GDP Growth To 4.4% – Stanbic IBTC
