The Nigerian economy attracted a total investment inflow of $4.14bn in the third quarter of this year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said.
The NBS, in its capital importation report, which was released on Monday, said the investment inflow in the third quarter was a significant improvement over the $1.79bn and $908.26m recorded in the second and first quarters of this year, respectively.
So far, a total investment of $6.85bn has been attracted into the economy this year.
The NBS noted that this was the first time since the beginning of 2015 that investment inflows would hit over $4bn in a quarter.
The report explained that the increase in investment inflow was as a result of significant growth in both portfolio and other categories of investments.
It read in part, “The capital importation into Nigeria in 2017 Q3 recorded a substantial increase compared to the past few quarters, as the economy continued to recover from recession following its exit in Q2 2017.
“The total capital imported in the third quarter was recorded at $4.14bn, more than double the inflow in the second quarter of this year, representing an increased value of 147.5 per cent on a year-on-year basis.
“The boom in capital importation in Q3 2017 was mainly driven by significant growth in both portfolio investment and other investment.”
A breakdown of the investment inflow showed that portfolio, with $2.76bn, remained the largest component of the capital imported into the country, contributing about 67 per cent of the total amount.
Portfolio investment, according to the report, expanded faster than the other categories with a year-on-year growth rate of 200.7 per cent.
The report stated that foreign domestic investment recorded a total amount of $117.6m, representing a 65.5 per cent decline.
It added, “The total amount of foreign direct investments during the quarter was recorded at $117.6m, which declined by 57.14 per cent compared to the previous quarter and 65.48 per cent compared to 2016 Q3 due to the fall in both equity and other capital investment.
“This category of capital investment showed a surprising decrease in value when both portfolio investments and other investment grew strongly over the third quarter.
“Capital import in the form of equity recorded $117.5m and remained the majority of total FDI in the third quarter of 2017, while other capital fell from $0.3m to $0.13m from the second to the third quarter.”
