Capital importation declines to $654.65m – NBS

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said Nigeria’s capital importation dipped by 43.55% to $654.65 million in the third quarter of 2023 (Q3 2023).

This was contained in the Bureau’s report titled: “Nigeria Capital Importation Q3 2023,” which noted that the capital importation declined from the $1,159.67% recorded in Q3 2022.

NBS said, “In Q3 2023, total capital importation into Nigeria stood at US$654.65 million, lower than US$1.159.67 billion recorded in Q3 2022, indicating a decline of 43.55%.”

The report also noted that in comparison to the preceding quarter, capital importation fell by 36.45% from US$1.030.21 billion in Q2 2023.

NBS noted that other Investment ranked top accounting for 77.56% (US$507.77 million) of total capital importation in Q3 2023, followed by Portfolio Investment with 13.31% (US$87.11 million) and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) with 9.13% (US$59.77 million).

The report added that the production/manufacturing sector recorded the highest inflow with US$279.51 million, representing 42.70% of total capital imported in Q3 2023, followed by the financing sector, valued at US$127.93 million (19.54%), and Shares with US$85.49 million (13.06%).

NBS said capital Importation during the reference period originated largely from the Netherlands with US$175.62 million, and recorded 26.83% share. This was followed by Singapore with US$79.15 million (12.09%) and the United States with US$67.04 million (10.24%).

According to the data, Lagos state remained the top destination in Q3 2023 with US$308.83 million, accounting for 47.18% of total capital importation, followed by Abuja (FCT) with US$194.66 million (29.73%) and Abia state with US$150.09 million (22.93%).

NBS noted that Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc received the highest capital importation into Nigeria in Q3 2023 with US$222.84 million (34.04%), followed by Citibank Nigeria Limited with US$190.03 million (29.03%) and Zenith Bank Plc with US$83.04 (12.68%).