Nigerians spent a sum of $3.05 billion on foreign travels between January and June 2021, representing a 62.1% surge when compared to $1.88 billion recorded in H2 2020.
This is according to data on Nigeria’s balance of payments account, obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The data also shows that travel expenses by Nigerians to foreign countries declined by 16.8% compared to $3.67 billion recorded in the H1 of 2020.
A breakdown of the data, reveals that personal travel expenses accounted for a large chunk of the total expenses recorded in the review period.
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As part of Nairametrics Balance of Payment Series, where an insight into Nigeria’s economy is given as well as where the nation allocates its forex earnings, Nairametrics presents the fourth review series of Nigeria’s balance of payments account.
Highlights of the data
Balance of payments is the statement of all transactions made between entities in a country and the rest of the world within a given period. In other words, the balance of payments statement tracks the monetary value of all transactions made by Nigeria with other countries of the world.
The data used for this review showed the following:
- Personal travel expenses in the first six months of the year stood at $2.75 billion, accounting for 90% of the total travel cost by Nigerians in the period under review.
- On the other hand, business travels accounted for the remaining part with a sum of $299.8 million spent.
- A further breakdown of the personal travel component shows that a sum of $1.48 billion was spent by Nigerians on education services during the period while $528.2 million was spent on health-related services.
- Meanwhile, comparative analysis shows a huge gap between the amount spent and received. Notably, a sum of $155.1 million was received into the country from foreign travels, indicating a deficit of $2.9 billion in the review period.
- Notably, also, the data shows that Nigeria received no monetary value from foreign soil to the education and health sectors of its economy. It only received $155.1 million from other personal travels, which would include vacations and visits to the country amongst others.[Nairametrics]
