Microsoft Word – Harvard help sheet The Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) reported a 67 percent decline in investment in H1 2020, compared to H1 2019. The decline saw investment fall to US$5.06 billion compared to US$15.15 billion in the preceding year2. Top destination sectors include Transportation & Storage (39%) as well as Information & Communication (32%) sectors. However, the overall weak economic activity in top donor countries like United States of America (USA), which account for 43 percent of inflows contributed to the decline. Understandably, the lockdown measures and low oil price have slowed existing investment prospects and caused multinational enterprises to reassess new projects which will affect development. Going forward, investment is likely to continue to decline given that these conditions are unlikely to give way until the pandemic ends. Nevertheless, the NIPC should use the pandemic as an opportunity to promote investment in traditional and new opportunity areas including health, food and agriculture, and tech-related sectors. Furthermore, the NIPC should develop an online one-stop shop for investors in the absence of inter-country travel.
August 17, 2020
Nigeria Economic Update (Issue 30)
Related
Nigeria Economic Update (Issue 22)
Power
sector analysis shows a decline in power generated by 15.07 percent from a peak
of 3,424 mw to 2,908 mw between May 8, 2016 and May 15, 20169. The
declining power supply is attributable to vandalism of pipelines and gas
shortages, which has a debilitating effect on power generation. As part of the
efforts by the Federal Government to improve power supply in the country, the
Bank of Industry (BoI) is currently funding intervention projects to provide
alternative source of energy (solar) in rural areas across the country10.
Since the major problem facing power generation in the country is gas
shortages, the government should make concerted efforts to combat vandalism.