Nigeria’s trade surplus widened to NGN 805.2 billion in September 2018 from NGN 467.7 billion in the same month a year earlier. Exports rose 36.2 percent year-on-year to NGN 1754.6 billion, mainly driven by higher sales of crude oil (36.5 percent); manufactured goods (85.4 percent); raw material (36.7 percent); energy goods (42.3 percent) and solid mineral (47.9 percent). Main export partners were: India (15.8 percent of total exports), Spain (10.8 percent), France (10.3 percent), South Africa (6.9 percent) and Netherlands (5.7 percent). Imports advanced 15.7 percent to NGN 949.3 billion, mostly due to higher purchases of agricultural goods (11.4 percent) and manufactured goods (27.8 percent). The most important import partners were: South Korea (29.1 percent of total imports), China (14.2 percent), Netherlands (11.6 percent), Belgium (7 percent) and the US (5.4 percent). Balance of Trade in Nigeria averaged 201916.59 NGN Millions from 1981 until 2018, reaching an all time high of 2177553.08 NGN Millions in October of 2011 and a record low of -592200.72 NGN Millions in March of 2011.
Balance of Trade in Nigeria is expected to be 767759.00 NGN Millions by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Balance of Trade in Nigeria to stand at 763515.00 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the Nigeria Balance of Trade is projected to trend around -17600.00 NGN Millions in 2020, according to our econometric models.