Nigeria’s trade surplus reaches N1.3tr in Q2
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Nigeria’s trade surplus rose to N1.3 trillion in the second quarter of 2023 (Q2 2023), a 38 per cent rise quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) on N927.15 billion in Q1 2023 but 7.6 per cent decline year-on-year (YoY) against Q2 2022.
There were increases in total imports and exports in Q2 2023, according to the latest data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics.
Total merchandise trade jumped 5.7 per cent QoQ from N12.04 trillion in Q1 2023 to N12.7 trillion in Q2 2023.
“Nigeria’s total merchandise trade stood at N12.74 trillion in Q2’23, indicating an increase of 5.7 percent over the value recorded in Q1’23, but it declined by 7.6 percent when compared to the value recorded in Q2’22,” the NBS said.
“The disaggregation of total trade into exports and imports shows that total exports stood at N7.02 trillion showing an increase of 8.15% over the value recorded in the preceding quarter and a decrease of 5.2 percent over the corresponding period in the preceding year.
“In addition, the data reveals that the share of exports in total trade stood at 55.06 percent in Q2’23.”
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Dominance of oil exports
“Exports trade in Q2′ 23 was dominated by crude oil exports valued at N5.58 trillion which accounted for 79.63 percent of total exports, while non-crude oil exports value stood at N1.43 trillion or 20.37 percent of total exports of which non-oil products contributed N688.68 billion representing 9.82 percent of total exports,” the report said, per Vanguard.
“On the other hand, total imports stood at N5.72 trillion in Q2′ 23, indicating an increase of 2.9 percent over the value recorded in the preceding quarter. The value of imports in the quarter under review fell by 10.37 percent compared to the value recorded in the corresponding period of 2022.
“Imports trade share of total trade in Q2’23 accounted for 44.94 percent of total trade, bringing the trade balance to N1.28 trillion.”
Top five exporters to Nigeria
The NBS disclosed the top five exporting countries to Nigeria during the period as:
- China – N1.26 trillion (22.17 per cent)
- United States – N921.45 billion (16.09 per cent)
- Belgium – N460.43 billion (8.04 per cent)
- India – N417.77 billion (7.3 per cent)
- The Netherlands – N369.69 billion (6.46 percent)