Nigeria recorded a positive trade balance as the value of exports exceeded the import bill in the first three months of 2022, the first in three quarters.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed this in its Foreign Trade Report released for the first quarter of 2022.
According to the report, Nigeria’s foreign trade rose to 13 trillion naira in the first quarter, up 11.1% from the 11.7 trillion naira recorded in the previous quarter and up 65.4% from the 7 860 billion naira recorded in the first quarter of 2021.
According to the report, the improvement in Nigeria’s merchandise trade was due to the increase in crude oil export earnings during the quarter under review. Specifically, Nigeria’s crude oil revenues increased by 31.66% quarter-on-quarter to reach N5.62 trillion in the first quarter of 2022.
A breakdown of the report shows that Nigeria exported 7.1 trillion naira worth of goods and imported 5.9 trillion naira bills in the first quarter resulting in a positive trade balance of 1.19 trillion naira.
Part of the BNS reports reads: “In the first quarter of 2022, total trade stood at 13,001.28 billion naira, which was higher than the value recorded in the fourth quarter of 2021 (11,707.20 billion naira) and the value recorded in the corresponding reporting period of 2021 which stood at 7,860.12 billion naira.
Also Read:Nigeria recorded exports of N9.30 in eight months – Trade Office
“Total exports were N7,100.46 billion, of which re-exports amounted to N115.80 billion, while total imports amounted to N5,900.83 billion. During the quarter under Reviewed, total exports increased by 23.13% compared to the fourth quarter of 2021 (5,766.62 billion naira) and by 137.88% of the value recorded in the first quarter of 2021 (2,984.93 billion naira). naira).
“On the other hand, total imports increased by 21.04% in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the value recorded in the first quarter of 2021 (4,875.19 billion naira) and decreased by 0.67% compared to the value recorded in the previous quarter (N5,940.58 billion).
Re-exports in the first quarter of 2022, which amounted to 115.80 billion naira, decreased compared to the same quarter of 2021 (123.46 billion naira) and also in the fourth quarter of 2021 (284.54 billion naira). naira) of 6.20% and 59.30% respectively.
The NBS also added that in the quarter under review, the top five re-export destinations were Namibia, Cameroon, Ghana, Indonesia and Malaysia.
The most re-exported commodity groups were “floating or submersible drilling or production platforms” (89.29 billion naira), followed by “ships and other floating structures for dismantling” worth (15. 93 billion naira) and “helicopters with an empty weight exceeding 2,000 kg”. amounting to (8.24 billion naira).
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