Nairametrics| The National Bureau of Statistics has reported that Nigerian exports for the year 2016 was N8.5 trillion compared to N9.5 trillion recorded in 2015. Total imports for 2016 was valued at N8.8 trillion compared to the N6.69 trillion recorded in 2015. Nigeria thus recorded a trade deficit of N290 billion for the year ended 2016, first time since 1982.
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Despite the forex policy and ban on 41 items, Nigeria still recorded the highest imports since 2011 when imports was N9.9 trillion.The data did not adjust for exchange rate differences between periods.
According to the data, crude oil exports for 2016 was N6.9 trillion compared to the N6.8 trillion recorded in 2015. Non crude oil exports was N1.5 trillion in 2016 compared to N2.7 trillion recorded in 2015.
Despite these worrying data, the last quarter of 2016 showed some promises as Nigeria recorded a Trade surplus of about N671.2 billion, the first time since 2015. Trade Surplus for November and December alone was about N575 billion.
