Nigeria has posted a trade surplus for the first time in three years, indicating that the country’s export industries are gradually recouping the majority of the losses sustained during the Covid-19 global shutdown.
This is stated in the National Bureau of Statistics’ recently issued Foreign Trade report (NBS).
Nigeria’s foreign trade reached a new high of N52.4 trillion in 2022, representing a 31.8% rise over the previous year’s figure of N39.75 trillion. A further breakdown of total trade data shows that Nigeria’s exports increased by 41.7% to N26.8 trillion in the review year, while imports increased by 22.5% to N25.5 trillion.
The result is a N1.2 trillion trade surplus, the first since Covid.
Nigeria ran trade deficits in both 2020 and 2021, with imports exceeding exports by N178.2 billion and N1.9 trillion, respectively.
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Nigeria’s total exports of N26.8 trillion mark the first time the country has surpassed the N20 trillion mark. Crude oil was a primary driver of Nigeria’s export performance, accounting for approximately 78.6% of total exports, with non-oil exports accounting for the remainder.
As it worked to wean itself off crude oil, the Buhari administration made non-oil exports the cornerstone of the country’s foreign exchange generating strategy. Crude oil exports, on the other hand, increased 46.4% year on year to N21.9 trillion in 2022, from N14.4 trillion in 2021 to N21.09 trillion in 2022.
Non-oil exports increased to N5.6 trillion in 2022, up from N4.49 trillion in 2021, primarily due to raw material exports. During the year, raw material exports more than doubled to over one trillion naira, dwarfing manufactured goods exports, which totaled N781 billion.
