Published 16th Apr, 2021

By Damilola Adeyera

Nigeria is the number one importer of commercial services in Africa in 2020, data released by World Trade Organisation (WTO) on Friday have revealed.

While Nigeria maintained the number spot in Africa, the country was ranked 25th in the world. Egypt came in second in Africa and was ranked 28th in the world.

On the global stage, countries in the European Union were ranked as the first importers in the world. United States of Americ came in second and Japan took the third position.

#DataFriday: Here are the top 10 exporters and importers of goods in 2020. Full data: https://t.co/XKdHVp4KKN

More about trade in 2020 and #WTOForecast for coming years: https://t.co/e6CN7gjFum pic.twitter.com/pauGD91KsU

— WTO (@wto) April 16, 2021

WTO noted that preliminary estimates were based on quarterly statistics.

“Figures for a number of countries and territories have been estimated by the Secretariat.,” it said.

“Data for 2020 are not yet available for the United Arab Emirates. In 2019, commercial services exports were valued at US$72 billion and imports at US$73 billion.”

Importers	Value	Share	Annual percentage change
1. Extra-EU imports	897	23.7	-13
2. United States of America	434	11.5	-23
3. China	378	10.0	-24
4. United Kingdom	193	5.1	-28
5. Japan	189	5.0	-7
6. Singapore	173	3.9	-17
7. India	149	3.9	-16
8. Switzerland	111	2.9	-9
9. Korea, Republic of	105	2.8	-19
10. Canada	90	2.4	-25
11. Russian Federation	63	1.7	-35
12. Hong Kong, China	51	1.3	-35
13. Brazil	47	1.2	-31
14. Thailand	44	1.2	-22
15. Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of	41	1.1	-25
16. Chinese Taipei	37	1.0	-34
17. Australia	37	1.0	-48
18. Norway	36	1.0	-31
19. Malaysia	33	0.9	-24
20. Qatar	31	0.8	-7
21. Mexico	27	0.7	-32
22. Israel	25	0.7	-20
23. Indonesia	25	0.7	-37
24. Turkey	24	0.6	-10
25. NIGERIA	23	0.6	-41
26. Phillippines	18	0.5	-36
27. Kuwait, the State of	18	0.5	-39
28. Egypt	17	0.5	-16
29. Viet Nam	16	0.4	-14
30. Iraq	14	0.4	-39
TOTAL of ABOVE	3345	88.6	–
WORLD (excl. Intra-EU)	3776	100.0	-22

Source: World Trade Organisation.

Yesterday, FIJ reported that high cost of food is set to be one of the major challenges Nigeria will be dealing with as the rate of food inflation keeps rising. Datas released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed.

The Buhari led administration has constantly blamed the economic woes of the country on Covid-19 pandemic. A claim which was backed by Godwin Emiefele, Governor Central Bank of Nigeria.

Meanwhile, Godwin Obaseki, Governor of Edo State has accused the Federal Government of printing N60billion in March to service states. This claim was denied by the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, but Obaseki on Thursday maintained his stance warning the Federal Government to stop what he described as: “monetary rascality”.

In his reaction to the blame games between Obaseki and FG, Emiefele while speaking with newsmen said printing of money is not a “foreign word” and “it is very inappropriate for people to just give some colouration to the word,”

“It is important for me to put it this way: The situation we find ourselves now is even worse than what we faced in 2015/2016–when we did provide budget support facilities for all the states in this country. That loan remains unpaid till now.

“And we are going to insist on paying back those monies going forward, since they (State Governors) are accusing us of giving them loans…effectively that’s what they are saying,”

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