Foreign trade grows on higher oil earnings
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Foreign trade rose to N13 trillion in the first quarter ended March (Q1 2022), up 11.1 per cent on N11.7 trillion in Q4 2021 and 65.4 per cent on N7.86 trillion in Q1 2021.
The report of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) for Q1 2022 just released shows the improvement was due to increases in crude oil export which notched 31.66 per cent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) to N5.62 trillion in Q1 2022.
Total export earnings grew 3.13 per cent from N5.77 trillion in Q4 2021 to N7.1 trillion in Q1 2022 against 0.67 per cent decline in import bill to N5.9 trillion. This resulted in a N1.19 trillion positive trade balance, the first since Q2 2021.
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Breakdown
Total imports in Q1 2022 stood at N5.9 trillion, declining 0.67 per cent versus Q4 2021 (N5.94 trillion), but 21.04 per cent above Q1 2021 (N4.88 trillion).
Export income in Q1 2022 was N7.1 trillion, 23.1 per cent higher than N5.77 trillion in Q1 2021 and 137.9 per cent above N2.98 trillion in Q4 2021, per reporting by Nairametrics.
Re-exports in Q1 2022 amounted to N115.8 billion, 6.2 per cent less than Q1 2021 (N123.46 billion) and 59.3 per cent less than Q4 2021 (N284.54 billion).
China, The Netherlands, Belgium, India, and the United States were the top five countries of origin of imports to Nigeria in Q1 2022.
The value of imports from the top five countries amounted to N3.44 trillion or 58.34per cent of the total.
The top five export destinations were India (16.57 per cent), Spain (9.54 per cent), The Netherlands (9.30 per cent), Indonesia (6.68 per cent), and the US (5.25 per cent).
Export oil lifts trade balance
Global oil price rallied in Q1 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Crude prices surged as high as $127 in March.
Nigeria’s oil production has dipped but the rise in price raised earnings from crude export, which rose 175 per cent in Q1 2022 to N5.62 trillion versus N2.04 trillion Q1 2021.
Oil accounted for 79.16 per cent of total export earnings in Q1 2022 and moved trade to N1.12 trillion surplus, the highest since Q3 2019.