The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says the nation’s estimated balance of payment turned negative at $4.542bn in the third quarter of 2018 ended September 30, 2018, compared to a $503.97m surplus in the preceding quarter, and $2.787bn in the corresponding period of 2017
In a publication: “A brief on balance of payment statistics,” by the Balance of Payments Statistics Office, External Sector Statistics Division of its Statistics Department, the apex also noted that current account balance (CAB) for the period “worsened from a surplus of US$4.452bn in Q2 2018 to a deficit of US$3.105bn in Q3 2018.
The financial account balance, it continued, indicated “an increased net incurrence of financial liabilities of US$10.724bn in the review period, as against US$2.575bn recorded in the preceding period.
The negative current account balance for the period, the report noted, “was largely attributable to the increased payments for imports,” even as surplus in the Goods Account decreased significantly to $2.125bn in Q3 2018, from surpluses of $75.10bn in the preceding quarter and $3.416bn recorded in the corresponding period of 2017.
Export earnings rose 2.8% to $16.21bn from the Q2 level and 35.3% above the corresponding period of 2017, dominated by revenue from crude oil at $15.301bn, which accounted for 94.4% of total.
Non-oil earnings and electricity exports fell by 49.3% to $909.04m in Q3 2018, when compared with the preceding quarter.
Payments for import of goods (fob) to the economy in the review period, on the other hand, increased by 70.5% to $14.085bn above the level recorded in the preceding quarter, due largely to the 79.7% rise in the imports of non-oil products
“Net out-payments for services during the review period increased significantly by 35.4 per cent to a deficit of US$7,024.57 million when compared with the level recorded in Q2 2018.
When compared with the corresponding period of 2017, it indicated a much higher increase of about 65%, the report added, stressing that deficit in the income account (net) increased by 6.7% to $4.161bn, from a deficit of $3.898bn recorded in the preceding quarter.
Compared with the level in the corresponding period of 2017, it represented an increase of about 39.5%, with surplus in the current transfers (net) decreasing by 1.2% to $5.955bn in Q3 2018 when compared with the preceding quarter. However, the level of surplus was 2.7% higher than the level recorded in the corresponding period of 2017.
Foreign direct Investments inflow increased by 0.7% to $438.84m, when compared with the preceding quarter of 2018, representing a decline of 45% however, when compared to the corresponding period of 2017.