FOREIGN TRADE CONTRACTS BY 8.9% IN Q2’18 —NBS

Nigeria’s foreign trade contracted by 8.9 percent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) in the second quarter of 2018 (Q2’18) to N6.57 Trillion, down from N7.21 Trillion recorded in the first quarter, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed in its “Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics” (Q2 2018) report released yesterday. However, the NBS report said the country recorded a surplus trade balance of N2.36 Billion during the quarter, which is a 8.36 percent increase over the N2.17 billion recorded in Q1’18.

It also noted that the trade figure in Q2’18 represents a 14.56percent growth year-on-year (YoY) compared to the N5.73Billion recorded in the second quarter of 2017. According to the Bureau, the contraction of total trade QoQ is mainly driven by the decline in both imports and exports. “The total value of exports in the quarter under review is N4.46 Trillion. This represents a 4.9 per cent contraction over the first quarter (N4.70 trillion) and a 43.8 per cent growth compared to second quarter of 2017. “Likewise, the total import component in the second quarter (N2.11Trillion) also recorded a decline of 16.3 per cent.

This is lower than the first quarter (N2.52Ttrillion) 2018 and 19.9 percent lower than the first quarter of 2017,” the report stated. NBS further stated: “The value of imported agricultural goods in Q2’18 was N224.52 Billion, an increase of 21.7% over Q1’18 (N184.49 Billion) and lower by 3.14% from Q2’17 (N231.80 Billion). Raw materials imports was N261.10 Billion, declining by 8.3%% compared to Q1’18 (N284.81 BIllion) and lower by 14.2%% compared to Q2’17 (N304.43 Billion). The value of manufactured goods imported in Q2’18 (N1.175 Trillion) declined by 1.2% over the previous quarter (N1.189 Trillion) but increased by 1.6% over the same quarter in 2017.”

On export, the report stated: “The export value for Agricultural goods in Q2’18 (N85.90 Billion) was 17.3% higher than the value in Q1’18 (N73.24 Billion) and 127.3% higher than the value recorded in Q2’17 (N37.79 Billion). Raw material exports value decreased by 2.98% in Q2’18 (N31.72 Billion) compared to Q1’18 (N32.70 Billion) but increased by 19.7% compared to Q2’17 (N26.50 Billion). Manufactured goods exports in Q2’18 (N69.86 bBllion) recorded a significant decline by 83.9% over the previous quarter (N434.37 Billion), and higher by 0.9%% when compared to Q2’17 (N69.26 Billion).”

 

Read more at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/09/foreign-trade-contracts-by-8-9-in-q218-nbs

 

 

 

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