By Yinka Kolawole
The move to diversify Nigeria’s export portfolio seems to be yielding results as the value of manufactured goods exported from the country in the first half of 2025 (H1’25) surged by 46.76 percent to N1.1 trillion from N749.5 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year (H1’24).
Analysis of reports of Foreign Trade in Goods by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) over the last 5 years shows a rising trend from 2021.
But there has been a significant jump from 2023, coinciding with the Naira depreciation occasioned by the unification of the foreign exchange (forex) market by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in June 2023.
A breakdown of available data from NBS revealed that manufactured goods exports stood at N304.09 billion in H1’21; N338.61 billion in H1’22; N343.29 billion in H1’23; jumped to N749.52 billion in H1’24; and N1.10 trillion in H1’25.
Further analysis indicates that the N1.1 trillion worth of manufactured goods exports in H1’25 represents 6.67 percent of the total manufactured goods traded in the period which stood at N16.49 trillion.
This shows a marginal increase in the export component of the total manufactured goods in the period under review when compared to the corresponding period of the previous year (H1’24), which was 6.21 percent.
Analysts have attributed the apparent increase in export of manufactured goods to depreciation of the naira.
According to them, the depreciation of the naira has made some goods produced in Nigeria to become cheaper, while CFA franc – a legal tender in Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo – continue to appreciate in value.
President of the Nigerian Economic Society, Adeola Adenikinju, noted that devaluation of currency helps to make export of goods cheaper.
“One of the reasons why countries devalue their currencies is to make exports cheaper relative to other goods so they can sell more,” he said.
Corroborating this view, Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), Dr. Muda Yusuf, also attributed the increase in exports partially to the naira depreciation.
“I think it is because of the naira depreciation. Devaluation normally creates opportunities for exports. And the surge in exports would have been more if it included the ones that are not officially captured.
“There are a lot more incentives for exporters, not the physical ones but the ones inherent in the currency devaluation.
“Once you have this depreciation, the export opportunities increase because our goods are cheaper,” Yusuf stated.
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