Nigeria’s Foreign Trade Hits N12.74trn
Nigeria’s import and export trade as at June 2023 stood at N12.74 trillion, with the Netherland topping the list of countries with the nation’s export destination, it was reported.
Premium Motor Spirit import accounted for 21.5 per cent (N1.23 trillion).
The United States of America, Indonesia are the other countries with high export of Nigerian goods.
However, China, the United States of America, Belgium, India and the Netherlands top the list of countries with the highest import of goods into Nigeria as at the end of the second quarters of 2023.
The details are contained in the 2024-2026 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) prepared by the Budget Office of the Federation dated September 2023 sighted by The Nation.
According to the document, the nation’s total export for the period stood at N7.02 trillion while total imports amounted to N5.73 trillion.
Total import from China with the period stood at about N1.27 trillion representing 22.17%) to lead other countries where goods are imported into the country.
Total export to the Netherlands’ export stood at N788.85 billion, representing 11.24 per cent of total exports; followed by United States of America with N718.63 billion; Indonesia with N550.18 billion; France with N540.73 billion and Spain with N504.45 billion.
The document reported that exports to the five countries amounted to 44.23% of the total value of exports.
It said further that total imports within the first six months of the year increased by 2.99per cent compared to the value recorded in the first quarter of 2023 (N5.56 trillion) but declined by 10.37per cent when compared to the value recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2022 (N6.39 trillion).
Also, it said that the values of import from the top five countries amounted to N3.44 trillion representing about 60.05 of total imports.
Other imports included used Vehicles, ang Automotive Gas oll (AGO).
The document also disclosed that total exports increased by 8.15 percent when compared to the amount recorded in the first quarter of 2023 (N6.49 trillion) but declined by 5.20per cent compared to the corresponding quarter in 2022 (N7, 400.89 billion).
It said that ‘Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals, crude’ valued at N5.59 trillion representing 79.63per cent account for the largest export product was, followed by Liquefies Natural Gas (LNG) liquefied billion and Urea
In addition, Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI) was the largest amount of capital importation by type, US$3.30 billion which is however 34.1per cent lower compared to $5.14 billion recorded in 2020. Foreign direct investment in Nigeria was a paltry $696.78 million, 32per cent lower than the $1.03 billion recorded in the preceding year.
On capital importation, the MTEF/FSP document said “there has been a steady decline in Nigeria’s capital importation for three consecutive years, from an annual level of $16.812 billion in 2018 to a paltry $5.32 billion in 2022.
“Quarterly data also showed capital importation declined by 51.51% from $2.187 billion recorded in Q4 2021 to $1.06 billion in Q4 2022.
“Trade deficits, loans, currency deposits represent the largest component of capital importation in 2022 accounting for 65.17per cent ($691.23 million) of total capital importation in Q4 2022.
“This was followed by Portfolio Investment with 26.89per cent ($285.26 million) and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) with 7.94per cent ($84.23 million).” (The Nation)
