- •Suffers 60.8 % trade imbalance
Indications that Nigeria may suffer major decline in foreign exchange earnings in the financial year emerged yesterday with the country's earnings from external trade dropping by about N2.08 trillion, from about N7.19 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2012 to about N5.098 trillion at the end of first quarter this year. This represented 29 per cent decrease in the value of trade.
The ugly development reinforces the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Finance Minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala's recent lamentation over the worrisome state of Nigeria's revenue incomes and the increasing need for fiscal retrenchment in order to avert the potential threats the dwindling earning could pose to the nation's macroeconomic stability.
According to the Foreign Trade Statistics Report for the first quarter of the year published by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, the decrease in the external merchandise trade was attributed to declining earnings from value of exports as well as increased importation of goods during the quarter under review.
For instance, while the value of exports declined sharply by 29 per cent, the value of imports also increased by about the same margin, rising by 27 per cent from the total imports value recorded in the preceding month.
A further analysis of the merchandise trade which totalled N5, 098.8 billion for the quarter under review indicated that on year-onyear basis, the value of the nation's total merchandise trade decreased by N1, 523.1billion or 23.0 per cent as a result of decreasing imports and exports. The difference showed a decline in the trade balance by 45.6 per cent during the period.
The NBS reported that: "Nigeria's external merchandise trade totalled N5, 098.9billion in the first quarter of 2013, a decrease of N2, 086.9 billion or 29 per cent from the N7, 185.8billion recorded in the previous quarter. The decrease emanated mainly from the fall in the value of exports from N5, 892.9 billion in the fourth quarter of 2012 to N3, 452.1billion in the first quarter of 2013, a 41.4 per cent decline.
"Furthermore, a 27.4 per cent increase in imports from N1, 292.8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2012 to N1, 646.7billion in the first quarter of 2013 in combination with a decrease in exports, created a decline in the trade balance by N2, 794.7 or 60.8 per cent during the period. Year-on-year, the value of the nation's total merchandise trade decreased by N1, 523.1billion or 23.0 per cent as a result of decreasing imports and exports," the NBS added.
On the export trade trend, the statistical agency disclosed further that the value of Nigeria's exports stood at N3, 452.1billion in the first quarter of 2013, representing a decrease of N1, 517.6 billion or 30.5 per cent from the fourth quarter of 2012, adding that a further comparison with the fourth quarter of 2012 trade value indicated that Nigeria's exports declined by N2, 440.8 or 41.4 per cent.
Analysis on exports by sections showed that that Mineral products contributed N3, 034.2billion or 87.9 per cent of total exports during the quarter, followed by Plastic, Rubber and Associated Articles with N168.1billion or 4.9 per cent, and Prepared Foodstuffs, Beverages, Spirit, Vinegar and Tobacco with N115.2billion or 3.3 per cent.
Contrarily, the report showed that the country's total imports value from January to March this year stood at N1, 646.7 billion, representing a marginal decline of 0.3 per cent year-onyear, but higher by 27.4 per cent or N353.9 billion from the N1, 292.8 billion recorded in the previous quarter.
The NBS attributed the increase in imports to substantial rises in the value of major products classified by SITC such as; Crude Inedible Materials, Mineral fuels, and Commodities not elsewhere classified with N125.6 billion, N1.2 billion and 482.6 billion respectively.
A further breakdown of the imports classified by sections showed that Mineral products accounted for the largest share of imports with N639.2billion or 38.8 per cent of total imports.
Other imports during the period include Boilers, Machinery and Appliances and Associated parts, Plastic, Rubber and Associated articles, and Vehicles Aircraft and Parts, with N236.3 billion or 14.4 per cent, N185.9 billion or 11.3 per cent and N143.8 billion or 8.7 per cent.
National Mirror