Nigeria records positive trade balance in Q1’22, as foreign trade hits 13trn

Nigeria has recorded a positive trading balance as export value surpassed import bill in the first three months of 2022, the first in three quarters.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed this in its released foreign trade report for Q1 2022.

According to the report, Nigeria’s foreign trade rose to N13 trillion in the first quarter, increasing by 11.1% from N11.7 trillion recorded in the previous quarter and 65.4% higher than the N7.86 trillion recorded in Q1 2021.

According to the report, the improvement in Nigeria’s merchandise trade was due to increases in crude oil export receipts in the quarter under review. Specifically, Nigeria’s crude oil earnings rose by 31.66% quarter-on-quarter to N5.62 trillion in Q1 2022.

A breakdown from the report shows that Nigeria exported N7.1 trillion worth of goods and imported bills to N5.9 trillion in Q1, this resulted in a N1.19 trillion positive trade balance.

Part of the NBS reports reads, “In the first quarter of 2022, Total trade stood at N13,001.28billion, this was higher than the value recorded in the fourth quarter of 2021 (N11,707.20billion) and the value recorded in the corresponding period of 2021 which stood at N7,860.12 billion.

Read also :Nigeria recorded N9.30tr exports in eight months – Trade Office

“Total Exports were N7,100.46billion of which Re-exports stood at N115.80billion, while total imports stood at N5,900.83billion. In the quarter under review, total exports increased by 23.13% when compared to the fourth quarter of 2021 (N5,766.62billion) and by 137.88% of the value recorded in the first quarter of 2021 (N2,984.93 billion).

“On the other hand, total imports increased by 21.04% in the first quarter of 2022 when compared to the value recorded in the first quarter of 2021 (N4,875.19billion) and decreased by 0.67% when compared to the value recorded in the preceding quarter (N5,940.58billion).”

Re-Exports in the first quarter of 2022 which stood at N115.80 billion decreased when compared to the same quarter of 2021 (N123.46billion) and also in the fourth quarter of 2021 (N284.54billion) by 6.20% and 59.30% respectively.

NBS also added that In the quarter under review, the top five re-export destinations were Namibia, Cameroun, Ghana, Indonesia and Malaysia.

The most re-exported commodity groups were “Floating or submersible drilling or production platforms” (N89.29billion) followed by “Vessels and other floating structures for breaking up” valued at (N15.93billion) and “Helicopters of an unladen weight exceeding 2000kg” amounting to (N8.24billion).

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