Economy
NIPC Says Investment Announcements in Nigeria Plunge 44%
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria’s economy recorded a sharp drop in foreign investments in 2020 as investors’ commitments declined by 44.1 per cent to $16.7 billion from $29.9 billion in 2019.
This is according to the investment announcements captured by the Nigeria Investment Promotion Council (NIPC).
Analysis of the data released by the NIPC showed that investments declined in the first three quarters of the year.
In the first quarter of the year, $4.8 billion was recorded compared to $12.7 billion in the same period of the preceding year, showing a 62 per cent decline.
Similarly, in the second quarter of the year under review, $250 million was recorded, 89.8 per cent lower than the $2.44 billion achieved in Q2 of 2019.
Also, in the third quarter of last year, there was a decline of 58.1 per cent in the investments to $3.9 billion from $9.3 billion in the same period of 2019.
However, investments in the fourth quarter of 2020 surpassed that of the same time of 2019 as announced investments stood at $7.76 billion in Q4 2020 versus $5.47 billion in Q4 2019.
According to NIPC, the $16.74 billion investments announced last year were committed to a total of 63 projects across 21 states of the federation, the FCT, and the Niger Delta region.
The manufacturing sector got the lion share of the investments as it received $8.4 billion, representing 50 per cent of the total investments announced last year.
The transportation sector got $4.61 billion, which is 28 per cent of the total investments announced. The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector was the third favourite sector for investors $1.81 billion, representing 11 per cent of the total sum, was committed to projects in the sector.
Mining and quarrying sector attracted $1.07 billion in investments in the period under review, thus accounted for six per cent of the total investments.
Other sectors of the economy such as Agriculture, Finance and Insurance, Health and Social Services shared the remaining $0.88 billion, which is five per cent of the investments. In terms of destinations, $6 billion, representing 36 per cent of the total investments went into projects in Rivers State.
In terms of state, Kaduna State got 2.81 billion, representing 17 per cent of the total investments. Projects in Kogi and Lagos states attracted $1 billion and $0.89 billion respectively, which is six per cent and five per cent of the total investments.
Other states of the federation attracted $6.05 billion, representing 36 per cent of the investments.
In terms of countries of destination, the NIPC report explained that $6 billion, representing 36 per cent of the total investments came from Singapore, while $3.71 billion, representing 22 per cent of the investments came from Chinese investors.
The report indicated that $2.44 billion, representing 15 per cent, was from the United States of America, while $1.6 billion, representing 10 per cent of the total announced investments came from South Africa.
A total of $2.99 billion (18 per cent) came from other sources including Nigerian investors.
The NIPC also said top 10 investing organisations in the Nigerian economy last year include, Indorama Petrochemicals and Fertilizer from Singapore; Bank of China and Sinosure; 328 Support Services GmbH from the USA; MTN South Africa; Sinoma CBMI from China; Torridon Investments from the UK; African Industries Group from Nigeria; Savannah Petroleum from the UK; Stripe from the USA; and NESBITT Investment Nigeria Limited.
Looking ahead, global Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) has been projected to drop by 50 per cent this year, being the worst in the last 20 years.
The Executive Secretary of the NIPC, Ms Yewande Sadiku, explained that global FDI is expected to plummet from $1.54 trillion recorded in 2019 to $924 billion in 2020 and further slump to $831.6 billion in 2021.
She said the downturn in the global FDI flow, occasioned by COVID-19, was not expected to record recovery earlier than 2022.
The NIPC boss advised that Nigeria would need to formulate and implement bold and coherent policy changes and deep economic reforms to reverse the expected declines in FDI between 2020 and 2022.
She said, “Investment interest in Nigeria was under pressure before COVID-19; coherent investment-supporting policies are urgently required to reverse the trend.”
“A more proactive all-of-government approach to investor support, across federal and state governments, is required to convert more announcements to actual investments,” she added.
By Dipo Olowookere
The local stock market firmed up by 1.13 per cent on Friday as appetite for Nigerian stocks remained strong.
Investors reacted well to the 2026 budget presentation of President Bola Tinubu to the National Assembly yesterday, especially because of the more realistic crude oil benchmark of $64 per barrel compared with the ambitious $75 per barrel for 2025. This year, prices have been between $60 and $65 per barrel.
Business Post observed profit-taking in the commodity and energy sectors as they respectively shed 0.14 per cent and 0.03 per cent.
But, bargain-hunting in the others sustained the positive run, with the consumer goods index up by 3.82 per cent.
Further, the industrial goods space appreciated by 1.46 per cent, the banking counter improved by 0.08 per cent, and the insurance industry gained 0.04 per cent.
As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 1,694.33 points to 152,057.38 points from 150,363.05 points and the market capitalisation chalked up N1.080 trillion to finish at N96.937 trillion compared with Thursday’s closing value of N95.857 trillion.
A total of 34 shares ended on the advancers’ chart, while 24 were on the laggards’ log, representing a positive market breadth index and bullish investor sentiment.
Austin Laz gained 10.00 per cent to close at N2.42, Union Dicon also jumped 10.00 per cent to N6.60, Tantalizers increased by 9.80 per cent to N2.69, Aluminium Extrusion improved by 9.78 per cent to N12.35, and Champion Breweries grew by 9.71 per cent to N16.95.
Conversely, Sovereign Trust Insurance dipped by 7.42 per cent to N3.87, Royal Exchange lost 6.84 per cent to trade at N1.77, Omatek slipped by 6.84 per cent to N1.09, Eunisell depreciated by 5.88 per cent to N80.00, and Eterna dropped 5.63 per cent to close at N28.50.
Yesterday, traders transacted 1.5 billion units worth N21.8 billion in 25,667 deals compared with the 839.8 million units sold for N32.8 billion in 23,211 deals in the preceding session, showing a surge in the trading volume by 76.61 per cent, an uptick in the number of deals by 10.58 per cent, and a shrink in the trading value by 33.54 per cent.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Three stocks stretched the bearish run of the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 1.21 per cent on Friday, December 19, with the market capitalisation giving up N26.01 billion to close at N2.121 billion compared with the N2.147 trillion it ended a day earlier, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) dropping 43.47 points to 3,546.41 points from 3,589.88 points.
The trio of FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc, and NASD Plc overpowered the gains printed by four other securities.
FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc lost N6.00 to sell at N54.00 per unit versus N60.00 per unit, NASD Plc shrank by N3.50 to N58.50 per share from N55.00 per share, and CSCS Plc depleted by N2.91 to N33.87 per unit from N36.78 per unit.
On the flip side, Air Liquide Plc gained N1.01 to close at N13.00 per share versus N11.99 per share, Golden Capital Plc appreciated by 70 Kobo to N7.68 per unit from N6.98 per unit, Geo-Fluids Plc added 39 Kobo to sell at N5.50 per share versus N5.11 per share, and IPWA Plc rose by 8 Kobo to 85 Kobo per unit from 77 Kobo per unit.
During the trading day, market participants traded 1.9 million securities versus the previous day’s 30.5 million securities showing a decline of 49.3 per cent. The value of trades went down by 64.3 per cent to N80.3 million from N225.1 million, but the number of deals jumped by 32.1 per cent to 37 deals from 28 deals.
Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company (InfraCredit) Plc finished the session as the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units valued at N16.4 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with 178.9 million units transacted for N9.5 billion, and MRS Oil Plc with 36.1 million units traded for N4.9 billion.
The most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis was still InfraCredit Plc with 5.8 billion units worth N16.4 billion, trailed by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with 1.2 billion units sold for N420.7 million, and Impresit Bakolori Plc with 536.9 million units traded for N524.9 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
It was not a good day for the Nigerian Naira at the two major foreign exchange (FX) market on Friday as it suffered a heavy loss against the United States Dollar at the close of transactions.
In the black market segment, the Naira weakened against its American counterpart yesterday by N10 to quote at N1,485/$1, in contrast to the N1,475/$1 it was traded a day earlier, and at the GTBank forex counter, it depreciated by N2 to settle at N1,467/$1 versus Thursday’s closing price of N1,465/$1.
In the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) window, which is also the official market, the nation’s legal tender crashed against the greenback by N6.65 or 0.46 per cent to close at N1,464.49/$1 compared with the preceding session’s rate of N1,457.84/$1.
In the same vein, the local currency tumbled against the Euro in the spot market by N2.25 to sell for N1,714.63/€1 compared with the previous day’s N1,712.38/€1, but appreciated against the Pound Sterling by 73 Kobo to finish at N1,957.30/£1 compared with the N1,958.03/£1 it was traded in the preceding session.
The market continues to face seasonal pressure even as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is still conducting FX intervention sales, which have significantly reduced but not remove pressure from the Naira. Also, there seems to be reduced supply from exporters, foreign portfolio investors and non-bank corporate inflows.
President Bola Tinubu on Friday presented the government’s N58.47 trillion budget plan aimed at consolidating economic reforms and boosting growth.
The budget is based on a projected crude oil price of $64.85 a barrel and includes a target oil output of 1.84 million barrels a day. It also projects an exchange rate of N1,400 to the Dollar.
President Tinubu said inflation had plunged to an annual rate of 14.45 per cent in November from 24.23 per cent in March, while foreign reserves had surged to a seven-year high of $47 billion.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market was dominated by the bulls but it continues to face increased pressure after million in liquidations in previous session over accelerating declines, with Dogecoin (DOGE) recovering 4.2 per cent to trade at $0.1309.
Further, Ripple (XRP) appreciated by 3.9 per cent to $1.90, Cardano (ADA) rose by 3.5 per cent to $0.3728, Solana (SOL) jumped by 3.4 per cent to $126.23, Ethereum (ETH) climbed by 2.9 per cent to $2,982.42, Binance Coin (BNB) gained 2.0 per cent to sell for $853.06, Bitcoin (BTC) improved by 1.7 per cent to $88,281.21, and Litecoin (LTC) soared by 1.2 per cent to $76.50, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.
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