Nigeria-Indonesia Trade Value Declines to $1.70b

By Dipo Olowookere

The rate at which the value of trade between Nigeria and Indonesia has been nose-diving lately has raised concern for investors in the Asian country.

This concern was raised when Nigeria’s Vice President, Mr Yemi Osinbajo, paid a two-day working visit to Indonesia last week where he spoke at the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) Beneficial Ownership Conference in Jakarta.

During the meeting, some members of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry who spoke at the meeting expressed interests in the railway, aviation, agriculture and foods sectors.

They also expressed concern about the declining value of the Indonesia-Nigeria trade, which currently stands at $1.70 billion from $3.18 billion in 2012.

Emphasising the need for both countries to work on reversing the slide, Chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr Rosan Roeslani, averred that, “Being the 15th largest economy in the world, Indonesia, through its investors, is desirous of increasing its portfolios to levels that justify Nigeria’s position as the Asian country’s biggest trading partner in Africa.”

He noted that Mr Osinbajo’s visit to Indonesia and his meeting with the business leaders were strong indications that Nigeria was ready to take her pride of place among Indonesia’s biggest trading partners in the world.

Chief Executive Officer of Indonesian Eximbank, Shintya Roesly, who was also at the meeting, expressed the bank’s readiness to support trade relations between both countries through financing of import and export activities with a view to boosting the balance of trade between the two countries. She called for the creation of a roadmap and establishment of a working group with timelines to enhance trade development between Indonesia and Nigeria.

Representative of Pertamina, Indonesian state-owned oil and natural gas corporation, Mr Daniel Purba, said the company had already opened discussions with stakeholders in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry with a view to investing in upstream assets.