Foreign investors appear to have boycotted the Nigerian market as capital importation has dropped by $4.08bn (N1.68tn) in one-year, latest statistics have shown. Between January and September 2020, total capital importation amounted to $8.55bn, data from the National Bureau of Statistics revealed. However, according to the latest capital importation report by the NBS, during the same period in 2021, foreign capital inflows into the country fell by $4.08bn (N1.68tn) to $4.47bn. A breakdown of the 2020 figures shows that in the first quarter of 2020, capital importation into Nigeria stood at $5.85bn, representing an increase of 53.97 percent compared to Q4 2019. During this period, Foreign Portfolio Investment contributed the largest amount to capital inflows, accounting for $4.31bn or 73.61 percent of the total capital importation, followed by ‘other investments’, which accounted for $1.33bn or 22.73 percent; then the Foreign Direct Investment which accounted for 3.66 per cent or $214.25m. In terms of sectors, the banking industry led the chart by contributing $2.99bn to the total capital importation in Q1 2020. In the second quarter of 2020, the aggregate capital inflow fell by 77.8 percent to $1.29bn when compared to the preceding quarter.

Punch