Nigeria’s trade balance grew 38% to N1.28 trillion in the second quarter of 2023, compared to N927.15 billion in Q1’23, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
The increase was driven by both higher exports and imports. Total exports rose 8.15% to N7.02 trillion in Q2’23, while total imports increased 2.9% to N5.72 trillion.
“Nigeria’s total merchandise trade stood at ₦12.74 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 disaggregation of total trade into exports and imports shows that total exports stood at ₦7,015.71 billion, 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” as stated by the NBS.
Crude oil exports accounted for 79.63% of total exports in Q2’23, while non-oil exports accounted for 20.37%.
China, the United States, Belgium, India, and the Netherlands were the top five partner countries of origin of imports to Nigeria.
It added, “The values of imports from the top five countries amounted to ₦3,438.76 billion, representing a share of 60.05 percent of total imports.”
