The Ambassador of Indonesia to Nigeria, Usra Harahap has said that the trade volume between his country and Nigeria has hit $2.46 billion as of 2021 despite the setback caused by the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The envoy said this during a press conference in Abuja yesterday, stressing that he will expedite action to improve the trade volume between both countries and also expand cooperation in education, oil and gas, counter-terrorism, youth and sports, culture, fisheries, agriculture and defense cooperation.
He said “In the last six years, the trade volume between the two countries has increased where in 2016 it reached USD 1.59 billion and in 2021 it increased to USD 2.46 billion.
“However, since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, there has been a drastic decline from USD 2.34 billion in 2019 to USD 1.2 billion in 2020. But as stated above, the trade volume has increased significantly in 2021.”
He also said that his country suffered a deficit in the trade balance between both countries because it imports large amounts of oil and gas from Nigeria.
“So far, in the trade balance between the two countries, Indonesia has experienced a deficit due to the large imports of oil and gas from Nigeria. Indonesia’s main exports to Nigeria are CPO and its derivatives, clothing, food, paper products, pharmaceuticals, electronics, plastics, soaps, and lubricating oils. Meanwhile, Indonesia’s main imports from Nigeria are petroleum products, cotton, cocoa, and leather raw materials,” he said.