Nigeria’s foreign trade deficit narrowed by 110.9 per cent to N1.87 trillion in the second quarter (Q2) compared with the first quarter on account of an increase in the value of oil export.
According to foreign trade data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the value of trade for the quarter stood at 12.03 trillion with exports accounting for 42.2 per cent or N5.08 trillion.
The export value is 75 per cent higher than the N2.91 billion recorded the previous quarter (Q1). The improvement came from sharp increase in crude export, which rose by 111.3 per cent, from N1.93 trillion posted in Q1 to 4.08 trillion.
Oil sales accounted for 80.3 per cent of the country’s exports, narrowing the non-oil margin to less than 20 per cent. The current administration has embarked on an aggressive campaign aimed at increasing the contribution of non-oil exports to reduce the concentration risk caused by crude dominance.
There was, however, a moderate increase in key areas of non-oil. For instance, the value of solid minerals exports increased by 60.1 per cent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) and 852.9 per cent year-on-year (YoY) while raw material exports also were by 50 QoQ and 326.6 per cent YoY.
