Nigeria Economic Update (Issue 30)

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.