Foreign capital imported to Nigeria declined by 32% from US$5.6 billion to US$3.8 billion between Q3 and Q4 2019, indicating a decline for the third consecutive quarter1. The decline during the period was driven by a fall in two components of foreign capital imports as portfolio investment and other investment declined by 37.7% and 30.5% respectively, while foreign direct investment increased by 24.5%. In 2019, the United Kingdom, the United States, and South Africa emerged as the top-three countries importing the highest capital while Lagos and Abuja remain the top destinations within the country. By sector, banking (31.92%), financing (26.18%) and shares (22.24%) emerge as the top sectors. Despite the decline in capital imports between Q3 and Q4 2019, there has been a 42.7% increase in the total value of capital imported between 2018 and 2019. Taking into consideration the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy due to the decline in demand and widespread uncertainty, a further decline in foreign capital inflows is expected going forward.
March 30, 2020
Nigeria Economic Update (Issue 11)
Related
Nigeria Economic Update (Issue 38)
Recent
NBS data on Nigerias real GDP growth rate declined from -0.36 percent in
2016Q1 to -2.06 percent in 2016Q2. With negative GDP growth rate in
two consecutive quarters, Nigeria records its first recession in 23 years. Both
the oil and non-oil sectors continued to contract by -15.59 and -0.20
percentage points, respectively, relative to preceding quarter. The worsening
growth rate in the oil sector was largely driven by the decline in domestic crude
oil production by 14.5 percent relative to preceding quarter