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The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released a new report on Monday showing that Nigeria recorded a trade deficit of N2.39 trillion in the third quarter of 2020, marking four consecutive quarters of negative balance of trade. According to the Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics (Q3 2020) report, the trade deficit for the last quarter also represents the largest amount by which the value of Nigeria's imports exceeded the value of its exports since 2017.

The NBS said the total value of the country's trade in Q3 2020 stood at N8.37 trillion. This represents a 34.15 per cent increase in trade compared to Q2 2020, but a decline of 8.85 per cent relative to Q3 2019. Year-to-date, total trade amounted to N23.20 trillion.

During the quarter under review, total imports stood at N5.38 trillion (or 64.3 per cent of aggregate trade value), while the export component totaled N2.99 trillion (or 35.7 per cent of the total trade). According to the NBS, the value of total exports increased by 34.85 per cent relative to the previous quarter but declined by 43.41 per cent when compared to Q3 2019.

Despite the recovery in exports in Q3 compared to Q2, the country's exports in the last quarter were still 27 per cent below the N4.1 trillion recorded in Q1 when the COVID-19 pandemic began to disrupt global economic activity as countries started imposing travel and quarantine restrictions. Total imports rose by 33.77 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter basis and 38.02 per cent year-on-year.

Nigeria's crude oil export in the third quarter of this year was valued at N2.43 trillion, representing 81.02 per cent of total exports in the reporting period. According to the statistics agency, the value of crude oil export in the last quarter was 56 per cent higher than the value recorded in Q2 2020 but 35.3 per cent lower than the value recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2019. Meanwhile, non-crude oil exports stood at N568.2 billion, representing 18.98 per cent of total exports during Q3 2020.

A sectoral analysis shows that trade in agricultural goods stood at N563.9 billion (or 6.74 per cent of the overall trade), of which exported agricultural goods were valued at N60.5 billion, while imported agricultural goods stood at N503.4 billion in the review period. The deficit in Nigeria’s agricultural goods trade in Q3 2020 was N442.9 billion.

The value of manufactured goods trade in the last quarter was N3.57 trillion (or 42.65 of total trade). While the total export component amounted to N133 billion, the value of imported manufactured goods was N3.44 trillion. The trade deficit in this sector stood at N3.31 trillion in Q3 2020.

Total trade in Nigeria's solid mineral goods was worth N40.8 billion in Q3, comprising an import component of N35.2 billion and export component of N5.5 billion, resulting in a deficit of N29.7 billion.

Nigeria's largest export destinations in Q3 2020 were India (16.73 per cent), Spain (10.97 per cent), Netherlands (7.61 per cent), and South Africa (6.81 per cent). China accounted for Nigeria's largest imports in the review period, accounting for a share of 30.51 per cent, followed by United States (8.96 per cent), Netherlands (8.24 per cent), and India (6.58 per cent).