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PRESS RELEASE: PRESS/TPRB/247
11 and 13 May 2005

TRADE POLICY REVIEW: NIGERIA

Trade liberalization should improve Nigeria’s macroeconomic performance

Nigeria has generally made progress in implementing macroeconomic and structural reforms, but its trade regime has become more protectionist since its last review in 1998, according to a WTO Secretariat report on the trade policies and practices of Nigeria.

The report notes that Nigeria’s increasing barriers to trade limit the benefits from its participation in the multilateral trading system. Liberalization reforms, through the simplification of its import duties (including its tariff structure), an increase in the scope of its binding commitments and the removal of import prohibitions, should enhance the predictability of Nigeria’s trade regime, and contribute to a better allocation of resources and to the diversification of the economy away from petroleum products.

The WTO report, along with a policy statement by the Government, will be the basis for the Trade Policy Review (TPR) by the Trade Policy Review Body of the WTO.

The following documents are available in MS Word format.

• Secretariat report
  > Contents and summary observations (10 pages, 99KB)
  > Economic environment (11 pages, 240KB)
  > Trade and investment regimes (14 pages, 209KB)
  > Trade policies and practices by measure (24 pages, 379KB)
  > Trade policies by sector (39 pages, 583KB)
  > Appendix tables (3 pages, 68KB)
    
• Government report (19 pages, 125KB)
    
• Chairperson's concluding remarks
    
• Minutes of the meeting are available approximately 6 weeks after the meeting.

Note  back to top

Trade Policy Reviews are an exercise, mandated in the WTO agreements, in which member countries’ trade and related policies are examined and evaluated at regular intervals. Significant developments that may have an impact on the global trading system are also monitored. For each review, two documents are prepared: a policy statement by the government of the member under review, and a detailed report written independently by the WTO Secretariat. These two documents are then discussed by the WTO’s full membership in the Trade Policy Review Body (TPRB). These documents and the proceedings of the TPRB’s meetings are published shortly afterwards.

Print copies of previous TPR publications are available for sale from the WTO Secretariat, Centre William Rappard, 154 rue de Lausanne, 1211 Genève 21 and through the on-line bookshop.

The TPR publications are also available from our co-publisher Bernan Press, 4611-F Assembly Drive, Lanham, MD 20706-4391, United States.

Schedule of forthcoming reviews  back to top

Ecuador: 8 and 10 June 2005
The Philippines: 5 and 7 July 2005
Egypt: 26 and 28 July 2005