Nigeria’s favourable balance of trade looks set to vanish

The recent data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) depicting favourable balance of trade looks set to vanish on slumping oil prices.

Nigeria’s external merchandise trade stood at N6.65 trillion in the second quarter of 2014.

Relative to the N5.51 trillion recorded in the preceding quarter, the value of the nation’s total merchandise trade increased by N1.14 trillion or 20.8 percent.

At a value of N3.26 trillion, the crude oil component of exports represented 69.8 percent of total exports for the period.

By continent of destination, the greatest values of Nigerian exports were sent to

Internet penetration to boost entertainment revenue to $8.5bn by 2018

The Internet will be a key driver for the Nigerian economy, where the number of mobile Internet subscribers is expected to surge from 7.7 million in 2013 to 50.4 million in 2018.

Nigeria’s entertainment and media revenues will reach an estimated US $8.5bn in 2018, more than doubling from the 2013 figure of US $4.0bn at a CAGR of 16.1 percent.

“This represents one of the fastest growth rates in the world,” said PwC in a recent report.

The report also predicted that television in the form of advertising and subscriptions and licence fees, will also become a US$1 billion-plus market in 2018, while the market will grow steadily.

According to recent data released by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS), motion pictures, sound recording and music production represent 1.2 percent of nominal GDP, amounting to just under N1 trillion.

The bureau, in its 2014 second quarter report issued in Abuja, said that motion pictures,