Michael Eboh
Lagos — Nigeria earns N15.487 trillion from the export of crude oil in the first quarter of 2024, rising by 50.2 per cent compared with N10.31 trillion earn from the same activity in the previous quarter, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The NBS In its Foreign Trade Statistics for the First Quarter of 2024, also reported that the amount earned from crude oil export in the first quarter of 2024 was 200.8 per cent higher than the N5.149 trillion recorded in the same period in 2023.
Analysis of the data showed that the significant improvement in crude oil export earnings compared with earnings from the commodity in the first quarter of 2023 was not as a result of an increase in crude oil output, but as a result of the substantial decline of the naira between March 2023 and March 2023.
Specifically, the naira had risen from around N700 to a dollar in the first quarter of 2023 to about N1,800 to a dollar in the first quarter of 2024, before dropping to about N1,480 to a dollar as at today.
On the other hand, Nigeria’s crude oil output, according to data from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), dripped by 2.92 per cent to 1.231 million barrels per day as at March 2024, from 1.268 million barrels per day in March 2023.
However, the NBS data showed that crude oil export earnings in the first quarter of 2024 was 63.97 per cent higher than the N9.445 trillion earned from the export of the commodity in the whole of 2020 and also 7.47 per cent higher than the N14.41 trillion the country earned from the export of the same commodity from January to December 2021.
In contrast, for the whole of 2022 and 2023, crude oil export earnings stood at N21.1 trillion and N29 trillion respectively, meaning that first quarter 2024 crude oil export was 26.6 per cent and 46.6 per cent lower, respectively, than total export earnings from the commodity for the whole of 2022 and 2023.
Furthermore, the NBS reported that crude oil export, in the quarter under review, accounted for 48.68 per cent of total trade for the same period, put at N31.81 trillion, while it also accounted for 80.8 per cent of total export in the same period, put at N19.167 trillion.
The NBS added that: “Total exports in the first quarter of 2024 were valued at N19.167 trillion, reflecting a 51 per cent increase compared to N12.694 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2023 and a 195.47 per cent rise compared to N6.487 trillion in the first quarter of 2023.
