By Nneka Nwogwugwu
Nigeria’s fuel import bill appreciated by 18.72 per cent in three months, as the country spent N948.758 billion to import Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol in the second quarter of 2022.
The increase was compared with N799.179 billion spent in the same period in 2021.
This was revealed in a recent data by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in its Foreign Trade Statistics for the Second Quarter of 2022.
The fuel import figure for April, May and June 2022, was 26.74 per cent lower than the N1.295 trillion spent to import the commodity in the first quarter of 2022.
The NBS disclosed that PMS import accounted for 17.48 per cent of Nigeria’s total import in the second quarter of 2022, making it rank as Nigeria’s biggest import in the period under review.
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Conversely, in the second quarter of 2021, PMS import accounted for 17 per cent of Nigeria’s total import; while in the first quarter of 2022, petrol import accounted for 31.74 per cent of Nigeria’s total import.
In addition to PMS import, the NBS stated that Nigeria spent N357.371 billion on gas oil import in the second quarter of 2022, representing 6.58 per cent of the country’s total import in the period under review, and ranking the second most imported commodity in the period.
The NBS added that jet fuel, also known as Aviation Turbine Kerosene (ATK), ranked the fifth most imported commodity in the second quarter of 2022, as the country spent a total of N102.137 billion on the importation of the commodity in the period under review.
Generally, the NBS stated that Nigeria’s total trade stood at N12.842 trillion in the second quarter of 2022, dropping by 1.22 per cent compared with N13.001 trillion recorded in the first quarter of 2022; while it was 32.23 per cent higher than the N9.712 trillion recorded in the second quarter of 2021.
The statistics agency noted that the value of Nigeria’s total exports in the second quarter of 2022 stood at N7.407 trillion, rising by 4.31 per cent when compared with total export value of N7.1 trillion recorded in the first quarter of 2022; while it was also 47.55 per cent higher than the N5.019 trillion recorded in the second quarter of 2021.
In the same vein, the NBS reported that the value of total imports stood at N5.435 trillion in the second quarter of 2022, dropping by 7.89 per cent when compared with the N5.901 trillion recorded in the first quarter of 2022; while it increased by 15.83 per cent compared with the N4.692 trillion recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2021.
