By Stanley Onyeka, Lagos
Despite the Federal Government’s claim of rising inflow of investment into Nigeria estimated at about $30billion, available data reveals the contrary, as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) was a mere $29.83 million in the second quarter (Q2) 2024.
Latest Nigeria Capital Importation (Q2) 2024 report released yesterday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), shows that the FDI dropped by 65.33% compared to the $86.03 million recorded in the corresponding period of 2023.
Besides, the figure represents only 1.15% of the total capital importation of $2.604 billion in Q2, and represents a 74.97% drop from the $119.18 million FDI reported in the preceding Q1 2024.
In its key highlight to the report, the NBS said: the $2.604 billion total capital importation is 152.81% higher than the $1.030 billion recorded a year ago.
The report continued: “In comparison to the preceding quarter, capital importation declined by 22.85% from $3.376 billion in Q1 2024.”
Other highlights include:
- Portfolio Investment ranked top with $1.404 billion, accounting for 53.93%, followed by Other Investment with $1.169 billion, accounting for 44.92%.
- The Banking sector recorded the highest inflow with $1.123 billion, representing 43.15% of total capital imported in Q2 2024, followed by the Production/Manufacturing sector, valued at $624.71 million (23.99%), and Trading sector with $569.22 million (21.86%).
- Capital Importation during the reference period originated largely from the United Kingdom with $1,120.15 million, showing 43.01% of the total capital imported. This was followed by the Netherlands with $577.82 million (22.19%) and the Republic of South Africa with $255.98 million (9.83%).
- Out of the three states that recorded capital importation during the quarter, Lagos state remained the top destination with $1,367.84 million, accounting for 52.52% of the total capital imported. Abuja (FCT) followed with $1,236.64 million (47.48%), and Ekiti state with $0.0003 million.
- Citibank Nigeria Limited received the highest capital importation into Nigeria in Q2 2024 with $818.46 million (31.43%), followed by Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria Limited with $654.79 million (25.14%), and Rand Merchant Bank Plc with $488.59 (18.76%).
On a geographic basis, only three – Lagos, Abuja and Ekiti out of the 36 states in Nigeria were the preferred destinations of investment during the period in review.
Lagos maintained its lead with $1.37 billion (52.52%), closely followed by the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, with $1.24 billion (47.48%) of the total inflows.
Ekiti came a distant third with minimal $0.001 million.
In comparison to the preceding quarter, capital importation declined by 22.85% from $3.376 billion in Q1 2024.
