UK-Nigeria trade volume has hit 5.5 billion pounds Mr Ben Llewelyn-Jones, British Deputy High Commissioner in Lagos has said, according to NAN report.
The British Deputy High Commissioner said that UK exports to Nigeria amounted to 3.3 billion pounds in the four quarters of 2022, noting its imports from Nigeria, in the period, amounted to 2.2 billion pounds. This, according to him, put the trade volume between the United Kingdom and Nigeria at 5.5 billion pounds.
He said the UK government was exploring ways to improve the trade relations with Nigeria, including partnering with it in bringing in electric meters, and that the UK government had also introduced the Developing Countries Trading Scheme, DCTS, that would encourage and improve exportation of goods from Nigeria.
The British envoy said that under the scheme, 99 per cent of goods exported to the UK would be duty free.
Said he: “With the introduction of the DCTS, which would take off in April, 99 per cent of Nigeria exports to the UK would be duty free, as we see this as a real opportunity to improve trading between both countries. The UK market is a very large one so we have reached out to small and large businesses in different parts of the country and this is intended to help exporters and other people in the trading business to make the United Kingdom an export destination.”
For him it is important to note that our government has been carrying out a lot of work in the country through initiatives as British International Investment which looks into the possibilities of investment and provides them.
“We work closely with the Nigerian authorities to overcome some challenges that come with investing in the country and we are also working on several ways to further strengthen the relationship between both countries, he said.”
According to the British Office for National Statistics (ONS) Fact Sheets released February 1, 2023, total trade in goods and services (exports plus imports) between the UK and Nigeria was £6.7 billion, in current prices, in the four quarters to the end of Q3 2022, an increase of 84.1% or £3.0 billion from the four quarters to the end of Q3 2021. Of this £6.7 billion:
- Total UK exports to Nigeria amounted to £3.8 billion, in current prices, in the four quarters to the end of Q3 2022 (an increase of 56.8% or £1.4 billion compared to the four quarters to the end of Q3 2021);
- Total UK imports from Nigeria amounted to £2.8 billion, in current prices, in the four quarters to the end of Q3 2022 (an increase of 140.8% or £1.7 billion compared to the four quarters to the end of Q3 2021).
Nigeria was the UK’s 39th largest trading partner in the four quarters to the end of Q3 2022 accounting for 0.4% of total UK trade.
In 2021, the outward stock of foreign direct investment (FDI) from the UK in Nigeria was £3.4 billion accounting for 0.2% of the total UK outward FDI stock. In 2021, the inward stock of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the UK from Nigeria was £806 million.
Stories courtesy Siaka Momoh, enterprisenow.ng