Posted Wed, Mar 16, 2022 2:15 PM

External Trade in Goods rose more than 50% in 2021 as the COVID-19 effect subsides

External Trade in Goods rose more than 50% in 2021, as the COVID-19 effect subsides

Nigeria’s external trade value increased sharply by 57.9% to N39.8 trillion in 2021 from N25.2 trillion in 2020. It also reflects an improvement in the value of external trade when compared with 2019 (N36.2 trillion) – a year before the global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. On a quarterly basis, the value of external trade rose consistently across the four quarters of 2021 (see Figure 1 in attached document). This suggests that the year 2021 witnessed a pick-up in trading activities across countries amid the waning effect of the pandemic.

Despite the persistent rise in global oil prices, growth in Nigeria’s imports outpaced the growth in its exports across the four quarters of 2021 (see Figure 2). Despite the record of a trade surplus of N327 billion in the second quarter of 2021, Nigeria’s trade balance maintained an overall deficit of N1.9 trillion in 2021 (see Figure 3). This represents a deterioration of the trade balance when compared with a deficit of N178.3 billion and a surplus of N2.2 trillion reported in 2019 and 2020, respectively.

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