According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), between January and March, Nigeria had a trade surplus of N927.16 billion.
An economic indicator of a favorable trade balance in which a country’s exports outweigh its imports is a trade surplus.
The NBS reported that Nigeria’s total exports were N6.49 trillion and its total imports were N5.56 trillion for the first quarter of 2023.
The NBS report indicates that the country’s total trade for the quarter under review was N12.05 trillion.
Additionally, it exceeds the amount reported for the fourth quarter of 2022, when Nigeria’s trade was valued at N11.72 trillion.
According to the report, total exports rose by 2% in the first quarter but fell by 8.66% when compared to the figures from the fourth quarter of 2022 (N6,359.61 billion) and the corresponding quarter in 2022 (N7,102.11 billion), respectively.
Similarly, total imports rose 3.67 percent in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the value recorded in the fourth quarter of 2022 (N5,362.83 billion), but again fell by 25.83 percent when compared to the value recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2022 (N7,495.67 billion).
Further analysis of the report reveals that China, the Netherlands, Belgium, India, and the United States of America accounted for the majority of Q1 2022 imports.
According to NBS, imports from the aforementioned nations accounted for N3.1 trillion in value, or 55.78 percent of all imports.
The bureau reported that “motor spirit ordinary, gas oil, and durum wheat” were the commodities with the highest values of imported goods.
Meanwhile, exports to the Netherlands totaled N837.65 billion (the highest amount).
