EHIME ALEX, Lagos
Nigeria’s total value of external trade declined sharply by 27.30 per cent in the second quarter of 2020, the National Bureau of Statistics said relative to the first quarter of 2020 and 27.46 per cent recorded in Q2 2019.
According to the data NBS released on Wednesday, the value of the country’s merchandise trade stood at N6,242.4 billion in Q2-2020.
It showed that the value of total trade year to date amounted to N14,829.4 billion, indicating a drop of 11.96 per cent compared to half year 2019.
Import component was valued at N4,022.9 billion which represents a drop of 10.69 per cent in Q2 2020 against the level recorded in Q1 2020 but an increase of 0.39 per cent year-on-year.
Similarly, the export component accounted for N2,219.5 billion of the total trade, which also indicates a decline of 45.64 per cent against the value recorded in Q1 2020 and 51.73 per cent relative to the corresponding period of 2019.
Consequently, the trade balance recorded a deficit of N1,803.3 billion, marking the third consecutive quarter of negative trade balance, compared with trade in goods deficit of N421.3 billion recorded in Q1 2020 and N579.06 billion recorded in Q4 2019.
The NBS further disclosed that crude oil, Nigeria’s dominant export, accounted for N2,944.6 billion, representing 72.12 per cent of total exports in Q1 2020.
The data showed also that the value of crude oil export was 18.86 per cent less than the value recorded in Q4 2019 and 12.80 per cent lower than the value recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2019.
While non-crude oil exports was valued at N1,138.3 billion, NBS said this represents 27.9 per cent of total exports during the period under review.
Further analyses showed that Imported Agricultural goods rose in value by 59.01 per cent in Q2 2020 relative to Q1 2020 and 66.28 per cent compared to the corresponding quarter in 2019; while Raw material imports increased by 85.69 per cent in Q2 2020 compared to Q1 2020 and 64.69 per cent year –on-year.
Others: Solid minerals imports increased in value by 35.51 per cent in Q2 2020 relative to Q1 2020 but decreased 0.47 per cent compared to Q2 2019; Manufactured goods imports increased in value by 4.69 per cent in Q2 2020 compared to Q1 2020 and 12.72 per cent year-on-year; and Energy goods imports increased tremendously by 591.47 per cent in Q2, 2020 compared to Q1 2020 and 129.78 per cent year-on-year.
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