….Ranks Below South Africa, Cote D’Ivoire
Indications that Nigeria’s economy is under-performing have emerged based on the Africa Export-Import Bank’s (Afreximbank’s) latest Africa Trade Report 2024, which reflected that the nation’s total share of intra-African trade dropped to about 4.2% in 2023 from 4.4% in 2022.
The just published report, titled ‘Climate Implications of the AfCFTA Implementation’, showed that despite the opportunities availed by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, Nigeria was not optimizing the benefits of the pact three years into its implementation.
According to the merchandize trade data, Nigeria’s intra-Africa trade dipped by 2.1 percentage points to $8 billion in 2023, from $8.2 billion in the previous year, thereby ranking fourth behind South Africa, Cote d’Ivoire and Egypt.
The report clarified: “This decline led to a marginal reduction in Nigeria’s share of total intra-African trade, which dropped from 4.4 percent in 2022 to about 4.2 percent in 2023.
“Approximately 5.1 percent of Nigeria’s exports were directed to African countries, with Cote d’Ivoire, South Africa, and Senegal being the top three destinations for Nigerian exports within the continent.
“Nigeria’s imports from the rest of Africa remained relatively low, accounting for less than 2.9 percent of its total imports”, it added.
Afreximbank further reported that the total value of intra-African trade during the year under review increased by 3.2% to $192.2 billion but lower than the 10.9% growth rate recorded in the previous year.
A further analysis of the report’s findings showed that intra-African trade potential for 2023 surpassed $69.4 billion, indicating that the current level of intra-African trade could potentially rise to $261.6 billion, representing 36% of total intra-African trade if fully explored.
The report listed some of key products with significant export potential in the continent as including, machinery, electricity, motor vehicles and parts, food products, minerals, beauty products, chemicals, plastic and rubber, ferrous metals, pearls and precious stones, and fertilizers.
