The Afreximbank’s Africa Trade Report 2024, titled ‘Climate Implications of the AfCFTA Implementation,’ ranked Nigeria as the top fourth contributor to intra-Africa trade, following South Africa, Cote d’Ivoire and Egypt for 2023.
In the report, Nigeria’s intra-Africa trade decreased in 2023 by 2.1 percent to $8 billion from $8.2 billion in the previous year.
“This led to a marginal decline in the country’s share of total intra-African trade in 2023, decreasing to about 4.2 percent from 4.4 percent in 2022. Notwithstanding, Nigeria remained the fourth-largest intra-African trading nation that year. Around 5.1 percent of Nigeria’s exports are directed to African countries, with Cote d’Ivoire, South Africa, and Senegal emerging as the top three destinations for Nigerian exports within the continent.
Nigeria’s imports from the rest of the continent remained relatively low, constituting less than 2.9 percent of its total imports,” it stated.
The value of imports from the top five countries amounted to N9.72 trillion.
In 2023, the value of intra-African trade increased by 3.2 percent to $192.2 billion compared with the 10.9 percent growth rate recorded in the previous year.
The Afreximbank report also estimated the export potential for intra-African trade to have surpassed $69.4 billion in 2023.
This projection holds the potential to substantially elevate the current level of intra-African trade to US$261.6 billion, hypothetically constituting 36 percent of total intra-African trade, assuming all other conditions remain constant.
“The products exhibiting the greatest export potential from Africa to Africa encompass machinery, electricity, motor vehicles and parts, food products, minerals, beauty.
The report noted that the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement since it came into force on January 1, 2021, boosted intra-African trade in 2023.