The BRICS and Nigeria’s Economic Performance: A Trade Intensity Analysis
Maxwell Ekor
Preston Consults Limited, Abuja, Nigeria
Oluwatosin Adeniyi
Department of Economics, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
Jimoh Saka
Department of Economics, Lagos State University, Nigeria
Keywords: Trade intensity, Vector autoregression, Impulse-response, BRICS, MINT, Policy.
Abstract
The study examined Nigeria’s trading relationship with the individual BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) by applying a combination of descriptive and econometric techniques. The findings show that Nigeria’s trade intensity is highest with Brazil followed by trade with India and then South Africa. The outcome of the vector autoregressive analysis indicated that Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP) reverts faster to equilibrium when there is a shock to exports to and imports from Brazil, as against Nigeria exports to and imports from the other BRICS countries. A key policy implication of the results is that of all the BRICS countries, Brazil appears to have the most potential in terms of improving Nigeria’s trade position.