Naira fall pushes Nigeria’s imports to N35tn
According to data by the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria’s total imports has increased to N35.9tn in 2023, from N25.5tn recorded in 2022.
A breakdown of the data has indicated that in the first and second quarters of 2023, total imports stood at N6.4tn. It grew to N9tn in the third quarter and again to N14tn in the fourth quarter.
By volume, the chart was led by manufactured imports with imports worth N18.3tn. Agric imports stood at N2.2tn while imports of raw materials totalled N3tn.
Similarly, Nigeria was able to deliver exports worth N35.9tn. However much of these were under the category of crude oil which constituted N29tn while exports of other oil products stood at N3.5tn.
Agricultural exports were N1.2tn while manufactured goods exported outside Nigeria totalled N778bn.
While speaking with a correspondent, the Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, Muda Yusuf faulted naira depreciation for the significant increase in exports on a year-on-year basis.
According to him, “I think it is because of the naira depreciation. If you are importing something that was $1m when the exchange rate was N450, now you are importing products worth $1m and the exchange rate is N1,500.
“That is three times already if you multiply it in naira. So, in dollar terms, it is possible that the import has even reduced. We have to consider that.”
The NBS data also indicated that the total non-oil export of Nigeria in 2019 (the highest in recent times) is just about $9.13bn.
While presenting a paper at an event organised by the Nigerian Export Promotion Council, the Director-General of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Segun Ajayi-Kadir expressed that Nigeria has not done well in global export trade as it ranked 52nd among nations.
He said the country has also not done well domestically in terms of the share of non-oil and manufactured exports to total exports.
According to him, “However, the discovery of crude oil brought a shift that made the country majorly depend on the oil sector to the neglect of other sectors.
“This made the economy susceptible to fluctuations in revenue, occasioned by the usual instability associated with the prices of crude oil in the international market.”
In January, the Executive Director of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council, Nonye Ayeni, while speaking to the media on the performance report of the non-oil export sector for 2023, noted that the value of Nigeria’s non-oil export revenue recorded a marginal decrease to $4.5bn.
She noted that, “In 2022, there was a $4.8bn in terms of value. And in 2023, there was a marginal decline to $4.5bn. But we got an increase in the volume of exports. In 2023, we had 6.68, million metric tons of manufactured, semi-processed, solid minerals to agricultural commodities.”
In further explaining reasons for the decline, Nonye faulted the weak poor exchange rate, the surge in informal trade, political instability in neighbouring countries and export rejection amongst others.