Nigeria’s total import from Malta rose from zero to about N1.03 trillion in 2023, according to an analysis of the foreign trade statistics reports released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
This is as controversy continues to trail the sudden increase in Nigeria’s import from the small Southern European country, following recent accusation by Aliko Dangote, chairman of Dangote Industries Limited, against Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.
A cursory review of the NBS reports show that Nigeria’s total import for 2023 was N35.92 trillion, which indicates that about 2.87% of Nigeria’s total imports were from Malta, despite no record of any international trade between the two countries in 2022.
TheWitness further observed that the import from Malta was 8.41% of the total import from Europe, which was about N12.25 trillion in 2023.
In the first quarter of 2023, Nigeria’s imports from Malta recorded a value of zero, representing 0% of the total imports for that period. This lack of imports set a stark contrast for the subsequent quarters.
Since there was no import from Malta in the first quarter of 2023, it likely means that importation from this Southern European country started in Q2 to Q4 2023.
For these three quarters, Nigeria total import was N29.45 trillion, which further suggest that the percentage of import from Malta was about 3.5% of total import within that period.
What you should know
The unexpected spike in imports from Malta, a country not typically known for its prominence in global oil markets, has caused a stir and spurred speculation.
Nevertheless, he pledged to take disciplinary action against any NNPC staff found to be involved in these allegations.
The NBS reports, however, did not specify the products imported from Malta.
