Research Document: The NESG Report on the FOREIGN TRADE ALERT for March 2019

Posted Wed, Mar 13, 2019 2:46 PM

Nigeria recorded significant improvement in external trade as the value of Total Trade (Imports + Exports) increased by 39% from N23.2 trillion in 2017 to N32.3 trillion in 2018, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Growth in Total Trade was driven Exports, which increased by 40.5% in 2018 to N19.1 trillion, accounting for 59% to Total Trade in the period. Imports, on the other hand, grew by 37.7% and was valued at N13.2 trillion in 2018. The improved performance of Exports vis-à-vis Imports led to significant growth in Nigeria’s Trade Balance, which stood at N5.9 trillion, the highest since the recession in 2016.

Like in previous years, Crude Oil continues to dominate Exports, accounting for 82% of total Exports in 2018. This implies that the Nigerian economy is still reliant on Crude Oil for foreign exchange earnings and by extension, government revenue. In addition to Crude, Other Oil
products accounted for 11.8% of total Exports earnings in 2018. Although the value of Non-Oil Exports increased significantly by 89.2% to N1.2 trillion, its share in total Exports rose slightly to 6.2% from 4.6% in 2017, due to the larger weight of Crude Export on overall Export. Further disaggregation of Non-Oil Export data shows that Manufactured and Agricultural goods accounted for 54.2% and 25.4% of Non-Oil Export; 3% and 2% of total Exports in 2018, respectively.

Download the pdf below to read the Complete Report.