Nigeria’s merchandise trade grows in Q4, records 1st positive trade balance

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said that the total value of Nigeria’s merchandise trade at the end of fourth quarter 2016 is ₦5.286 billion. This is contained in a report on “ Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics for fourth quarter of 2016’’ released by NBS on Saturday in Abuja.
According to the report, Nigeria records positive trade balance due to rising exports since fourth quarter of 2015. The NBS said that the volume of trade was 10.6 per cent more than the value of ₦4.781 billion recorded in the preceding quarter.
The bureau stated that the total export value for fourth quarter, 2016 stood at ₦2.978 billion, which was 28.3 per cent more than the value of the previous quarter. “Total import for fourth quarter 2016 was ₦2.307 billion, which represented a decrease of 6.1 per cent with the value of the preceding quarter.
“The much faster rise in the value of exports relative to the rise in imports brought the country’s trade balance to ₦671.3 billion during the review period.

“This shows a stark improvement from the negative trade balance of  ₦136.0 billion recorded in the preceding quarter.

“This development stemmed from a rise of ₦656 billion or 28.3 per cent, in the value of exports combined with a decline of ₦151 billion or 6.1 per cent, in the value of imports against the levels recorded in the preceding quarter.

“The last time Nigeria recorded a positive trade balance was in fourth quarter of 2015,’’ it stated.

The bureau further stated that the year, accordingly, ended with a total trade for 2016 of N17.345 billion compared to N16.299 billion in 2015 and N23.678 billion in 2014.

It stated that total exports in 2016 stood N8.527 billion (N9.593 billion in 2015) while total imports stood at N8.817.5 billion (N6.698 billion in 2015) .

The bureau, however, stated that this figure translated into a negative trade balance for 2016 of -N290.1 billion compared to trade surplus of N2.895 billion in 2015 and surplus of N8.929 billion in 2014.