By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria’s total capital importation rose by 66.3 per cent to $1.089 billion in the last quarter (Q4) of 2023 compared with the $654.65 million recorded in the third quarter of 2023.
The figure for the final quarter of last year was slightly higher than the $1.06 billion recorded in Q4 2022, indicating an increase of 2.6 per cent.
Capital importation refers to the funds brought in from abroad into Nigeria for investment, trade, and manufacturing within a country. They are often structured into three – Other Investment, Portfolio Investment, and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
In the period under review, Other Investment ranked top accounting for 54.6 per cent as it brought in $594.74 million of Nigeria’s total capital importation in Q4 2023, followed by Portfolio Investment with 28.5 per cent at $309.76 million and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) with 16.9 per cent, which amounted to $183.97 million.
The entirety of Nigeria’s Other Investment in Q4 came from foreign loans while money market instruments ($231.78 million), bonds ($67.16 million), and equity ($10.83 million) made up the Portfolio Investment, while FDI saw a majority of its inflows come from equity ($183.96 million) and Other Capital ($0.01 million).
By sectors – the production/manufacturing sector recorded the highest inflow with $450.11 million, representing 41.4 per cent of total capital imported in Q4 2023, followed by the banking sector, valued at $283.30 million (26.0 per cent), and financing with $135.59 million (12.5 per cent).
The majority of foreign capital inflows came from the United Kingdom with $267.24 million, and recorded a 24.6 per cent share. This was followed by Mauritius with $226.18 million (20.8 per cent) and the Netherlands with $149.93 million (13.9 per cent).
Others include Singapore’s $144.25 million ( 13.3 per cent) and South Africa with $116.37 million (10.7 per cent).
Only four states brought any foreign capital into the country in the three months as Lagos State remained the top destination in Q4 2023 with $771.68 million, accounting for 65.3 per cent of total capital importation, followed by Abuja (FCT) with $370.80 million (34.1 per cent), Rivers state with $6.00 million (0.6 per cent) while Ekiti State brought in ~$10,000.
Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc received the highest capital importation into Nigeria in Q4 2023 with $499.45 million (45.9 per cent) by banks, followed by Citibank Nigeria Limited with $229.06 million (21.0 per cent) and Rand Merchant Bank Plc with $85.85 (7.9 per cent).
