Dike Onwuamaeze
The African Export and Import Bank (Afreximbank) has stated that the value of Nigeria’s trade with the continent grew from $7.47 billion to $9.02 billion in 2025.
Afreximbank said that Nigeria increased its share of intra-African trade, partly by increasing its exports of refined petroleum products to regional markets, including Cameroon, Ghana, and Togo, facilitated by the Dangote Refinery operating at near-full capacity.
These were contained in Afreximbank’s report titled: “African Trade Report 2026: Leveraging Geopolitics for Trade and Industrialisation in Global Africa.”
The report’s findings highlighted the growing resilience and potential of African economies whose real GDP growth accelerated from 3.4 per cent in 2024 to 4.5 per cent in 2025, which outpaced global growth and reaffirmed the strength and adaptability of the continent.
The report also said that aggregate inflation moderated significantly from 21.6 per cent to 13.1 per cent with some countries recording as low as 3.0 per cent inflation rate, while merchandise trade expanded by 6.1 per cent to approximately $1.5 trillion, and intra-African trade grew by 5.5 per cent to about $213.8 billion.
“These outcomes reflect improving macroeconomic management, strengthening institutions, expanding regional cooperation, increasing cross-border investments, and the determination of African countries to sustain growth despite a complex global environment,” it said.
According to the report, crude oil was a dominant feature in Nigeria’s exports to Africa while its other key exports included nonoil manufactured goods such as chemicals, plastics, and rubber products, processed agricultural goods and foodstuffs, urea, and cement.
It said: “Nigeria intensified its focus on trade with other African countries, leveraging the AfCFTA to expand market access and lower trade costs for domestic exporters.”
Key milestones achieved during the year by Nigeria included the gazetting of the country’s Provisional Schedule of Tariff Concessions in April, which enabled Nigerian goods to qualify for preferential tariffs across AfCFTA member states while granting reciprocal access for African imports.
The report said that new logistics initiatives such as a dedicated air cargo corridor to East and Southern Africa are reducing transportation costs for Nigerian intra-African trade.
It noted that West Africa’s unrealised intra-African export potential remained substantial in 2025 and estimated at slightly more than $7 billion out of a total export potential of approximately $13 billion.
It identified 10 key product categories that accounted for a combined unrealised potential of around $3.1 billion, including processed food products ($0.7 billion) fish and shellfish ($0.5 billion), vegetable oils and fats ($0.4 billion), precious metals and mineral products (each at $0.3 billion).
“Collectively, these sectors highlight the region’s comparative advantage in agro-processing and semi-industrial production, alongside a gradual shift toward more value-added trade
Despite this potential, the report said that significant gaps still persist between export capacity and actual trade performance, which are particularly true in the processed foods and fisheries sector, where constraints in cold chain infrastructure, packaging, quality standards, and logistics continue to limit scale.
The President of Afreximbank, Mr. George Elombi, recommended the report to policymakers, business leaders, investors, researchers, development practitioners, and all stakeholders committed to Africa’s transformation.
Elombi said: “The years ahead hold immense promise. With visionary leadership, appropriate mind set shift, particularly within the civil service and public sector with focus on execution, strategic partnerships, and collective resolve, Africa can turn the pressures of a turbulent global era into the foundations of a more integrated, industrialised, prosperous, and globally competitive future.”