***Manufacturing sector to boost foreign trade
By Musa Haruna
An Economist, Mr Rasheed Yusuf, has urged the Federal Government to increase its interventions to the manufacturing and movie sectors to boost Nigeria’s volume of trade with the rest of the world.
Yusuf, the Chief Executive Officer of an investment firm, Trust Yield Securities, Lagos gave the suggestion in an interview with Daybreak.ng in Lagos on Monday.
The economist was reacting to the National Bureau of Statistics’ fourth quarter foreign trade statistics report released on Sunday which said Nigerian economy recorded a total of N32.2 trillion trade in the 2018 fiscal period.
The bureau, in the report, said that the N32.26 trillion trade was about 39.31 per cent more than the total trade figure recorded in 2017.
NBS said out of the N32.26 trillion, export was N19.09 trillion, adding that it was 40.46 per cent higher than what was recorded in 2017.
The report put the value of import during the period at N13.13tn, adding that this was 37.67 per cent more than the 2017 import figure.
On export, the NBS said that the value of agricultural exports rose by 115.1 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2018 while that of raw material goods exports was 26.7 per cent higher than the value in the third quarter.
Yusuf said that the local manufacturing sector must be given a boost through an affordable exchange rate that would enable manufacturers expand their business scope.
“The exchange rate should be such that it will enable them to buy machinery abroad.
“This special intervention will accelerate their expansion into new frontiers, create jobs and increase the nation’s economy in the next fiscal year,” he said.
He said that since export was an integral part of trade volume, the nation’s movie industry was an area capable of boosting the country’s trade.
Yusuf urged the industry operators to position themselves better to benefit from the government.
“Firm makers and its entire value chain should have a more cohesive association in order to get financial grant from the authorities.
“The sector has the capacity to be the next money-spinning sector after hydrocarbon and agriculture if given the pride of place,” he said.
He lauded the government for ensuring peace in the Niger Delta region, stressing that this had increased the country’s trade volume.
