The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said that Nigeria’s total foreign trade with its trade partners has risen to N8.603 trillion in the second quarter (Q2) of 2019.
According to Leadership, the latest NBS report revealed the value of total trade in Q2 to have been higher than the first quarter (Q1), 2019 by 4.4% 2019, and 24.2% higher when compared to Q2 of 2018.
However, the N8.6 trillion general trade value comprises of 46.6% imports valued at N4,007 trillion and 53.4% exports worth N4,596.2 trillion.
Performance of Q1 and Q2 of 2019 at half the year when combined is valued at 15.43% higher than the same period in 2018.
In Q2 2019, the value of total imports rose by 8.20% compared to Q1 2019, and by 65.21% over a quarter of 2018.
The value of imports for the first half of 2019 increased to 43.63% compared to the same in 2018.
The value of imported Agricultural products recorded in Q2, 2019 was 5.79% higher than Q1 2019, and 11.33% higher than Q2 of 2018, while the value of total exports in Q2, 2019 increased by 1.34% against Q1, 2019 and 2.06% against Q2, 2018.
NBS also revealed that Nigeria’s trade balance valued at N588.8 billion indicated positive growth.
However, the trade balance declined by 63.14% in the same period of 2018. Meanwhile, the value of total trade recorded a 15.43% increase at Q2, 2019 when compared to the same quarter of 2018.
Despite the recorded growth in the value of imports, there was recorded decline in the growth of exports due to slower growth in the value of crude oil exports and decline in the value of non-crude oil exports in the second quarter. crude oil maintained the highest export product with 85.6% (N3,934.6 billion), while non-crude oil exports contributed 14.37% (N661.6billion) of the total exports.
