Agric leads non-oil export proceeds with N105.06bn in first quarter

Efforts by the federal government to diversify the economy and generate foreign exchange from other sources might have started yielding the needed results as the trade statistics report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), revealed that the exportation of agricultural goods grew by 82 per cent in the first quarter of 2017.

The sectoral breakdown showed that proceeds from agricultural products stood at $340 million (N105.06 billion) in the first quarter of 2017, representing 39.5 per cent of total non-oil export proceeds. Food products, manufactured products and industrial goods counted for 10.8 per cent, 16.9 per cent and 10.9 per cent respectively.

However, the latest quarterly Economic Report from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) puts non-oil exports provisionally at $87 million (N26.88) in Q1 2017, indicating a substantial rise of 86 per cent Quarter-on-Quarter ( q/q). However, they declined by 15 per cent Year-on-Year (y/y).