By Fredrick Wright
Nigeria recorded a deficit trade balance of about N3,023.50 billion in the third quarter of 2021 as the value of imports continued to outweigh exports, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), has said.
The latest NBS Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics report, revealed that the deficit was an increase of 26.53% compared to the same period in 2020.
Total imports in the third quarter grew to N8,153.79 billion, showing an increase of 17.32% quarter on quarter and 51.47% on a year-on-year basis.
And total exports were pegged at N5,130.30 billion, which shows a 1% growth compared to the second quarter of the same year and a 71.38% growth compared to the third quarter in 2020.
“Export in the third quarter 2021 was still oil-dependent,” the NBS said.
“Crude oil exports recorded N4,026.18 billion and it remained the major product in total exports (78.48%), while non-crude oil was valued at N1,104.1 billion or 21.52% of total exports of which Non-oil products only contributed N546.27 billion representing 10.65% of total exports during the quarter under review.”
Nigeria’s major export trading partners, according to the report were India (14.78%), Spain (12.22%), Italy (8.69%), France (7.08%), Netherlands (4.78).
However, the major import trading partners were China (29.95%), India (8.71%), the United States (7.35%), the Netherlands (6.80%) and, Belgium (5.32%).
