Here is how much Nigerians spent on used cars in the first quarter of 2019

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed exactly how much was spent on used cars (popularly known as Tokunbo) in the first quarter of 2019.

According to the newly released report, Nigerians spent a total of N148 billion to import these vehicles into the country.

This represents about 4.63% of all the goods imported into the country within the first three months of the year.

Statistics have shown that the amount of money spent on the importation of vehicles from the U.S has gone up since 2015. N417.66 billion was used to import used vehicles between March (2018 and 2019).

used cars (better known as Tokunbo) ece-auto-gen

Last year, data from the U.S Department of Commerce showed that Nigeria imported used vehicles worth $526 million (N161 billion). This is less than the $284 million (N87 billion) spent in 2017.

Used cars continue to take a huge part of Nigeria's foreign exchange. They are the third most imported goods for the first three months of 2019.

Overall, Nigerians spent N3.58 trillion on imported goods in the first quarter of the year. Here are the top nine imported goods for the first quarter of 2019:

Laboratory glassware - N517 billion
Motor spirit (fuel)- N190.7 billion
Used Vehicles - N117.4 billion
Imported motorcycles - N95.3 billion
Gas Oil - N62.2 billion
Machines - N56.7 billion
Durum wheat (Not in seeds) - N43.8 billion
Durum wheat, Seed - N43.8 billion
Sugar Cane - N34.5 billion

Bauchi residents consume N1m. worth of sugarcane daily - chairman ece-auto-gen

Other highlights from the report include:

The value of total imports rose 3.39% in Q1 2019 compared to Q4 2018, and by 25.84% over the corresponding quarter of 2018.
Imported Agricultural products were 7.98% higher in value than in Q4 2018, and 28.1% higher than in Q1, 2018.
The value of Raw material imports grew 6.62% more than the value recorded in Q4, 2018 and 20.76% more than the value recorded in Q1 2018.
The value of Solid minerals imports was 1.26% more than the value of imports in Q4, 2018 and 35.90% higher than the value recorded in Q1 2018.
The value of Energy goods imports was 20.28% lower than in Q4,2018. Compared with the corresponding quarter of 2018, a decrease of 0.94% was recorded.
The value of imported Manufactured goods increased by 25.81% in Q1,2019 against the value recorded in Q4,2018 and rose by 130.7% against its value in Q1, 2018. The increase in the value of imported manufactured goods was partly as a result of the importation of hygienic/ pharmaceutical product for humanitarian purposes during the quarter.
The value of Other oil products imported was 58.4% lower than in Q4, 2018 and 72.71% lower than the corresponding quarter of 2018.