Nigeria posts N139bn trade deficit in first quarter 

Nigeria recorded a total trade deficit of N138.98 billion between January and March this year, the statistics office said on Tuesday in its Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics Q1 2020 report.

In the said period, the country’s total import stood at N4.22 trillion, representing 50.8 per cent of trade, compared to the total export figure of N4.08 trillion equivalent to 49.2 per cent of total trade.

Foreign trade however leapt by 0.8 per cent year on year from N8.23 trillion in first quarter 2019 to N8.3 trillion in the corresponding period of 2020.

The N8.3 trillion total foreign trade value reported in Q1 2020 was 17.94 per cent lower than what was recorded in the fourth quarter of 2019.

The trade deficit of N138.98 billion marked the second quarter in a row the country would report a negative trade deficit as its import figure exceeded its export figure.

“It is worth noting that the consecutive quarters of negative trade balances (and lower imports and exports) occurred against the backdrop of a global slowdown in economic activity as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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“The global health crisis resulted in several countries implementing varying degrees of restrictions with respect to international trade, travel and tourism,” the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said.

Nigeria’s chief export, crude oil, provided 72.12 per cent or N2.94 trillion of total exports in the period.

The value of oil export was 18.86 per cent less than that of Q4 2019 and 12.80 per cent weaker than the figure recorded in the same quarter of 2019.

Non-crude oil exports came to N1.14 trillion translating to 27.9 per cent of total exports.

Total exports in Q1 2020 signal a 21.08 per cent fall over the figure posted in Q4 2019 but an improvement of 13.99 per cent relative to the figure recorded in Q1 2019.

“The drop in the value of imports in Q1,2020 can be attributed to decreases in the value of Machinery and transport equipment (N1,746.0 billion) which represents 35.5% less than (N2,708.98) recorded in Q4 2019.Chemicals and related products (N398.7billion) representing a decrease of 30.5% over (N573.98billion) recorded in Q4,2019 and crude inedible materials (N43.5 billion) representing 22.2% less than ( N55.9billion) recorded in Q4,2019,” the NBS said.

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