Nigeria’s Total Imports Hit Three Years High in Q3, 2020

The total value of goods imported into Nigeria in the third quarter of 2020 stood at N5.381 trillion, according to the latest report from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

This was 33.77 percent higher than the N4.023 trillion recorded in the second quarter and 38.02 percent better than the same quarter of 2019. This is the highest imports since 2017. So far this year, Nigeria’s total value of imports stood at N13.909 trillion.

During the same quarter, export value accounted for N2.993 trillion of the total trade, representing a 34.85 percent increase when compared to the amount filed in Q2, 2020 and a decrease of 43.41 percent compared to the third quarter of 2019. Also, this is the lowest of any quarter since 2017.

“Due to lower exports and higher imports compared to 2019, the trade balance recorded a deficit of N2,388.5billion during the third quarter. This also represents the widest merchandise trade deficit since 2017. When compared to the deficit of N1,803.3 billion recorded in Q2, the Q3 deficit rose by 32.45%,” NBS stated.

In the third quarter, the total value of Nigeria’s merchandise trade stood at N8.374 trillion, representing an increase of 34.15 percent from the second quarter and a decline of 8.85 percent when compared to the corresponding quarter of 2019.

Despite the Federal Government’s efforts at stimulating local production, Nigeria continues to depend on imports for most of its consumptions. Crude oil accounted for 81.02 percent or N2.42 trillion of the nation’s total exports while non-crude oil exports and non-oil exports constituted 7.17 percent or N568.18 billion and N214.65 billion, respectively.

Nigeria’s largest exporting partners were India, Spain, Netherlands, South Africa and Turkey with 16.73 percent, 10.97 percent, 7.61 percent, 6.81 percent and 5.01 percent, respectively.

China remains Nigeria’s largest importing partner with 30.51 percent of the nation’s total import coming from the world’s second-largest economy. The United States came second with 8.96 percent. This was followed by the Netherlands (8.24 percent), India (6.58 percent) and Belgium (3.95 percent).