Nigeria’s current account witnessed a positive outcome in the first quarter of 2018, recording a higher surplus of US$4.5 billion as against a surplus of US$3.6 billion in the previous quarter and US$3.4 billion in the corresponding period of 2017.
The development was largely attributable to the increased export earnings and the net surplus in current transfers, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The Apex bank on Friday, released its first quarter brief on balance of payments statistics, which revealed that provisional Balance of Payments (BOP) estimates for Q1 2018 showed a significant improvement in the country’s position as the overall balance of payments indicated a surplus of US$7.3 billion compared with a surplus of US$6.2 billion in the preceding quarter.
It also indicated a better position when compared to a surplus of US$2.9 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2017.
The surplus in the Goods Account increased to US$5.7 billion in Q1 2018 from a surplus of US$5.5 billion in the preceding quarter and US$2.3 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2017.
Export earnings rose by 10.2 per cent to US$14.4 billion in Q1 2018 when compared with Q4 2017. It also indicated an increase of about 44.4 per cent when com-pared to Q1 2017.
Earnings from crude oil and gas, which accounted for 93.3 per cent of total export earnings during the review period, increased by 10.1 per cent to US$13.4 billion in Q1 2018 when compared with the preceding quarter.
The report indicated that earnings from non-oil and electricity ex-ports also increased by 12.3 per cent to US$967.08 million in Q1 2018 when compared with the preceding quarter.
Available data showed that payments for import of goods (fob) to the economy in the review period grew by 13.9 per cent to US$8.6 billion above the level recorded in the preceding period. This was largely as a result of 99.5 per cent increase in the imports of petroleum products.
On services, income and current transfers, net out-payments for services during the review period de-creased by 5.1 per cent to a deficit of US$4,445.49 million when compared with the level recorded in Q4 2017.
However, when compared with the level in the corresponding period of 2017 it indicated a significantly increase of about 201.2 per cent.
Income account (net) worsened to a debit of US$3.3 billion in the review period from US$2.9 billion recorded in the preceding period. This is significantly different from US$2.3 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2017.
Current transfers (net) increased by 9.9 and 31.3 per cents to a surplus of US$6.4 billion in Q1 2018 when com-pared with the levels in the preceding quarter of 2017 and corresponding period of 2017, respectively.
Direct investments inflow declined by 15.7 per cent and 5.3 per cent to US$808.56 million when compared with the preceding quarter and corresponding period of 2017.
On the other hand, portfolio investments inflow to the economy increased to US$5.1 billion in Q1 2018 from US$3.8 billion and US$438.47 million when compared with the preceding quarter and corresponding period of 2017, respectively. Also, other investment liabilities increased to US$6.6 billion when compared with the level in the preceding quarter of US$23.71 million.
