MONDAYBUSINESS ECONOMIC INSIGHT Nigeria’s trade surplus skyrocketed to N4.04trn in 2017 - NBS

Nigeria’s trade surplus skyrocketed to N4.04 trillion in 2017 from a trade deficit of -N290.1 billion recorded in 2017.

The Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics released over the weekend by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows that Nigeria’s total trade stood at N23.16trn, which is 33.5 per cent higher when compared to the value in 2016 of N17.35trn.

For the fourth quarter of 2017, Nigeria recorded N6.02trn for total trade, which represented a decline of 0.7 per cent over the third quarter of 2017 and an increase of 13.9 per cent over the same period last year.

Trade balance for the fourth quarter of 2017 stood at a surplus of N1.90trn, up from the surplus of N1.09trn recorded in the preceding quarter and the surplus of N671.30bn in the corresponding last year.

Analysis of the report shows that the total imports for 2017 stood at N9.56trn which was 8.5 per cent lower than the 2016 trade import value of N8.82trn.

Total imports value at N2.11trn in the fourth quarter of 2017, down quarter from N2.49trn recorded in the previous quarter.

Total exports for 2017 stood at N13.60trn, up 59.47 per cent from the N8.53trn recorded in 2016.

Total value of export rose to N3.91trn in the fourth quarter of 2017, up by 9.35 per cent over the third quarter of 2017 and by 31.27 per cent over the same period in 2016.

The report shows that India, USA, the Netherlands, France and Spain are Nigeria’s top export partners, while China, Belgium, USA, India and the Netherlands are her top import partners.