Nigeria Attracts $27.9 Billion in Three Years

• Nigeria Attracts $27.9 Billion in Three Years

The improved economic outlook and growing business activity across the country are fueling capital inflows into the Nigerian economy despite the recent economic recession.

The total investment inflow into Nigeria between July 2015 and March 2018 stood at N8.5 trillion (US$27.9 billion), the National Bureau of Statistics report showed.

According to the report, investment came in from three main sources, portfolio investment consisting of equity, bond and money market instruments; equity and other capital; and other investments made up of trade credit, loans, currency deposit and other claims.

The new forex policy including the introduction of the Investors & Exporters Forex Window, forex intervention program, and improved ease of doing business help stabilized the economy and shaped capital importation during the period.

Prior to the economic crisis, the economy attracted US$9.6 billion in 2015, half of what was recorded in 2014. In 2016, the number drops to US$5.1 billion before rising by US$7.1 billion to US$12.2 billion in 2017 following series of changes made by the central bank to ease economic gridlock and improve forex liquidity.

So far, the economy has attracted US$6.3 billion in the first half of this year, according to the NBS report.

Yewande Sadiku, the Executive Secretary, Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission, said the commission is interested in seeing more Nigerian invest in the economy.

“We are interested in seeing more Nigerians invest in the country, and we have a domestic direct investment model now in the commission and we working with the National Bureau of Statistics to track investments inflow into the country,” she said.

However, experts believe that weak business sentiment due to growing political uncertainty and rising interest rates in the U.S may impact capital inflows going forward. This, the Central Bank of Nigeria mentioned during its last monetary policy meeting in Abuja and explained that it would be curbed either by maintaining current interest rate, 14 percent, or hiking rate to sustain capital inflow.