Foreign capital inflow rises, but 28 states excluded
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Only a handful of states attracted substantial foreign investment in the first quarter of the year to March (Q1 2023) but the amount grew 6.78 per cent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ), as captured in a report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
A total 28 states did not get a kobo from the $1.13 billion imported in Q1 2023, which was a rise on $1.06 billion in Q4 2022.
The 28 states include:
- Abia
- Bauchi
- Bayelsa
- Benue
- Borno
- Cross River
- Delta
- Ebonyi
- Edo
- Enugu
- Gombe
- Imo
- Jigawa
- Kaduna
- Kano
- Katsina
- Kebbi
- Kogi
- Kwara
- Nasarawa
- Osun
- Oyo
- Plateau
- Rivers
- Sokoto
- Taraba
- Yobe
- Zamfara
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Lagos gets lion share
Lagos topped the list of states with $704.87 million or 62 per cent of the total capital inflow in Q1 2023, according to the NBS, per reporting by Vanguard.
Lagos Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu recently assured investors the state is the right place for investments and “the crown subnational jewel of the African economy.”
He stressed Lagos is good for investment in financial technology, education technology, health technology, business process outsourcing (BPO), talent training, and placement, or physical infrastructure like data centres, among others sectors.
The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) received the second largest amount of $410.27 million or 36 per cent of the total.
The remaining states that attracted foreign capital in Q1 2023 are:
- Akwa Ibom – $5.21 million
- Adamawa – $4.50 million
- Anambra – $4 million
- Ogun – $2.09 million
- Niger – $1.50 million
- Ondo – $0.20 million
- Ekiti – $0.01 million
Capital importation dips to $4.89b
Capital importation in the 11 months between January and November 2022 (M11 2022) was $4.89 billion, a 12.3 per cent slash against $5.89 billion in M11 2021.
CBN figures show capital inflows have been slow since the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and other economic headwinds.
Foreign investment in Nigeria fell from $23.71 billion in 2019 to $9.68 billion in 2020 and to $6.7 billion in 2021, the lowest in five years.
The sums for M11 2022 break down as follows:
- Loans – $1.97 billion (40.2 per cent of total). Up 26.8 per cent from $1.55 billion in 2021.
- Foreign direct investment (FDI) – $421.64 million (8.6 per cent of total). Down 27.4 per cent on 2021.
- Foreign portfolio investment (FPI) – $2.4 billion. Down 25.8 per cent on $3.24 billion in M11 2021. FPI accounted for most inflows at 49 per cent.
- FDI slashed 27.5 per cent to $416.63 million.
- FD in form of other capital dropped 19.2 per cent to $5.01 million.