Yemisi Izuora
The federal government has raked in about N2.838 trillion from the export of petroleum products in the first quarter of 2015.
The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS,in a data released at the weekend indicated that the amount is 64.18 per cent of the Federal Government’s 2015 budget of N4.425 trillion.
The NBS, in its Foreign Trade Statistics for the first quarter of 2015, stated that the export of petroleum products accounted for 87.86 per cent of Nigeria’s total merchandise export of N3.23 trillion in the first quarter.
Giving a breakdown of the petroleum products export, the NBS disclosed that crude oil emerged the highest exported commodity in the quarter under review, valued at N2.251 trillion, representing 69.7 per cent of the country’s total export.
The value of the country’s crude oil export in the first quarter of 2015 represents an appreciation of 0.54 per cent when compared against N2.239 trillion recorded in the preceding quarter. The amount is, however, a decline of 30.4 per cent from total crude oil export of N3.234 trillion recorded in the first quarter of 2014.
Liquefied Natural Gas followed with an export value of N306.16 billion, while the country earned N152.268 billion from the export of liquefied propane.
Also, N128.49 billion was earned from the export of partially refined crude oil products; N21.247 billion from liquefied butanes and N4.706 billion was earned from the export of Liquefied Petroleum Gas and other gaseous hydrocarbons.
In general, the NBS stated that Nigeria exported mainly mineral products, which accounted for 2.880 trillion or 89.2 per cent of total exports.
Continuing, the NBS said: “The value of merchandise exports totalled 3.23 trillion in the first quarter of 2015, an increase of 275.6 billion or 9.3 per cent over the value recorded in the preceding quarter. “