Nigeria’s foreign capital inflow drops to $9.68bn, hit four-year low

Foreign capital flow into Nigeria plummeted by more than half in 2020 to $9.68bn, its lowest level in four years, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Friday.

The NBS, in its capital importation report for the fourth quarter and full-year 2020, said the total value of capital importation into the country fell by 59.65 percent or $14.3bn last year from $23.99bn in 2019.

Foreign capital flow into the country stood at $16.81bn in 2018, $12.23bn in 2017, and $5.12bn in 2016, the NBS data showed.

The statistics office said the total value of capital importation in Q4 stood at $1.07bn, down by 26.81 percent compared to Q3 and by 71.87 percent compared to the same period of 2019.

“The largest amount of capital importation by type was received through other investments, which accounted for 73.22 percent ($783.26m) of total capital importation, followed by Foreign Direct Investment, which accounted for 23.49 percent ($251.27m) of total capital imported and portfolio investment which accounted for 3.29 percent ($35.15m) of total capital imported in Q4 2020,” it said.

The NBS said the United Kingdom emerged as the top source of capital investment in Nigeria in Q4 with $236.88m, accounting for 22.14 per cent of the total capital inflow.