Trade between Nigeria and Egypt hits $315 million in 2024 – Egyptian Foreign Minister
The forum focused on exploring opportunities across vital sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, infrastructure, energy, and transportation.
Trade Growth and Future Potential
Minister Abdelatty highlighted that trade between the two African nations grew from $187 million in 2023 to $315 million in 2024, showing a positive upward trend. However, he emphasized that this figure still falls far short of what both economies are truly capable of achieving.
He urged both countries to diversify their trade beyond traditional goods and to fully utilize the potential offered by the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). As an example of beneficial trade, he pointed to Nigeria’s export of $160 million worth of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to Egypt in 2023, suggesting that similar strategic collaborations should be encouraged.
Echoing this sentiment, Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Yusuf Tuggar, expressed concern over the surprisingly low volume of bilateral trade. He noted that in 2023, the total trade volume was only $211.2 million, with Nigeria’s exports making up a tiny fraction at just $12.2 million.
This significant imbalance highlights a vast, untapped market for Nigerian goods, especially within the AfCFTA framework, which aims to reduce trade barriers across the continent.
Amb. Tuggar stressed the need for a balanced trade relationship and urged both countries to work towards a larger goal set by the Developing-8 (D-8) group.
The D-8, which includes Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Türkiye, aims to boost trade among its member countries to an ambitious $500 billion by 2030. Despite the D-8’s collective economic strength and a combined population of over 1.2 billion people, trade between Nigeria and Egypt within this group remains low. Nigeria is committed to strengthening its economic ties with Egypt to help achieve this target.
The Role of Remittances
Amidst these discussions on increasing bilateral trade, it’s important to note that both Nigeria and Egypt are leading countries in foreign remittances received in Africa. According to the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC)’s “State of Africa’s Infrastructure Report 2025,” Africa received over $95 billion in remittances in 2024. Nigeria, Egypt, and Morocco were the top recipients of these funds.
This significant inflow of money from citizens living abroad almost matched the total foreign direct investment (FDI) into the continent for that year, underscoring the growing importance of diaspora contributions to African economies.
The report also highlights that, apart from 2024, remittances have consistently outperformed other external financial sources like FDI, making them a very stable and dependable source of foreign exchange for African nations. Nigeria, with its large global diaspora, continues to be a major hub for these crucial remittances.
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