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

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

Foreign capital flow into the Nigerian economy plunged by more than half in 2020 to $9.68 billion, its lowest level in four years, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) 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 per cent or $14.3 billion last year from $23.99 billion in 2019.

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

The custodian of statistics said the total value of capital importation in Q4 stood at $1.07 billion, down by 26.81 per cent compared to Q3 and by 71.87 per cent 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 per cent ($783.26m) of total capital importation, followed by Foreign Direct Investment, which accounted for 23.49 per cent ($251.27m) of total capital imported and portfolio investment which accounted for 3.29 per cent ($35.15m) of total capital imported in Q4 2020,” it said.