· As foreign trade falls 8.4% to $10.79bn

· Crude oil exports receipts fall 15%

By Elizabeth Adegbesan

Nigeria’s trade surplus declined month-on-month, MoM, by 50.8 percent to $930 million in April 2022, from $1.89 billion in March.

This is as a result of an 8.4 per cent fall in total trade to $10.79 billion in April from $11.78 billion in March.

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, disclosed this in its Monthly Economic Report for April which stated that crude oil export receipts fell MoM by 15 per cent to $4.51 billion in April from $5.32 billion in March.

CBN said: “Weaker global growth concerns amid global inflation pressures and uncertainties in the international crude oil market, led to a decline in general trade performance in April 2022.

“Consequently, Nigeria’s total trade declined by 8.4 per cent to $10.79 billion from $11.78 billion in March 2022.

“The development led to a decline in the trade surplus by 50.8 per cent to $0.93 billion in the review period from $1.89 billion in the preceding month.

“A disaggregation showed that aggregate export receipts fell by 14.3 per cent to $5.38 billion from $6.29 billion in March. Similarly, merchandise import fell marginally by 0.3 per cent to $4.07 billion, from $4.08 billion in the preceding month.

“Accordingly, aggregate crude oil and gas export receipts of $5.12 billion was recorded, compared with $5.92 billion in March, indicating a decrease of 13.6 per cent.

“A disaggregation shows that crude oil export receipts fell by 15.3 per cent to $4.51 billion, relative to $5.32 billion in March, driven, majorly, by the decrease in the price of Nigeria’s reference crude, the Bonny Light.’’

On non-oil exports it stated: “The performance of non-oil export was dampened by weakened global demand following uncertainties in Eastern Europe. Hence the data reflected 18.5 per cent reduction in non-oil export receipts to $0.74 billion, relative to its value in March.’’

On imports, the CBN said: “Growing supply chain disruptions and attendant commodity price increases moderated merchandise import during the review period. Aggregate import decreased marginally by 0.3 per cent to $4.93 billion in April 2022, compared with $4.94 billion in March.’’