Total Nigeria merchandising trade stood at N9.12 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2020, representing an 8.9 percent increase relative to the preceding quarter and a 9.9 percent decrease relative to the corresponding quarter of 2019.1 For the fifth consecutive quarter, Nigeria recorded a negative balance of trade with the import component of trade accounting for 65 percent while export component of trade accounted for 35 percent. Crude oil accounted for 78.93 percent of Nigeria’s export while manufactured goods accounted for 64.56 percent of total imports. Nigeria’s major export trading partner is India (17.12 percent) while China (28.28 percent) accounted for most import to Nigeria. Improvements in foreign trade is expected to continue as economic activities in our major trading partner countries increase. However, diversifying the export base to include other goods such as agricultural commodities, textiles, and manufactured goods is pertinent. To achieve this, ensuring standardization of commodities and setting competitive freight charges will unlock the opportunities in external trade.
March 24, 2021
Nigeria Economic Update (Issue 11)
Related
Nigeria Economic Update (Issue 15)
Recent data on Nigerias labour market points to a
rise in the rate of unemployment and underemployment in 2015Q4. Specifically,
compared to 2015Q3, the rate of unemployment and underemployment rose to 10.4
per cent and 18.7 per cent from 9.9 percent and 17.4 percent respectively.
These statistics however masks the true situation of the youth employment in
Nigeria. Disaggregated data by age category shows that unemployment and
underemployment within the youth age category (15-24) was remarkably higher
than the national average, at 19 and 34.5 per cent respectively.
Africa Economic Update (Issue 1)
Sub-Saharan Africa experienced its worst economic
performance in over two decades in 2016, with growth slowing to 1.5 percent.
The poor performance in South Africa and oil exporting countries is responsible
for attenuating regional growth rate, due to their high collective contribution
to regional GDP, despite robust performance in non-resource intensive countries.
Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa is projected to slightly improve in 2017 (2.9
percent) and further strengthen in 2018 (3.6 percent). At the sub-regional
level, growth prospect is estimated to be highest in West Africa (4.78
percent), attributable to 5.93 percent growth rate from West African Monetary
Union (WAEMU) Countries. East Africa is expected to grow at 4.5 percent,
Southern Africa 3 percent, and Central Africa 2 percent. Agricultural exporting
countries are projected to grow at around 7 percent, while oil producing
countries are estimated to grow at 1.9 percent, which indicates a recovery from
the negative growth recorded in 2016.