United Kingdom, United States and South Africa top the list of countries with the most capital inflows into Nigeria in the first three months of 2018.
Capital inflow is the amount of money that comes into a country’s economy from other countries within a particular period of time for the purpose of trade, investment or business production. The total capital inflow into Nigeria rose by 594.03% year-on-year to $6,303.63 million in the first quarter of 2018 compared to $908.3 million recorded in same period of 2017, as banking remained the leading sector.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its ‘Capital Importation (Q1)’ report, released Friday, May 11, 2018, acknowledged that this is the fourth consecutive quarterly increase since Q2 2017, following last year’s liberalisation of the currency for foreign investors and steps to tighten liquidity to attract offshore funds.
In the report, capital importation to Lagos increased marginally by 4.59% from $2.55 billion in the last quarter to $2.67 billion in Q1, 2018, while capital importation to Akwa Ibom was $43.62 million, which is a decline of 65.05% from the figure reported last quarter ($124.85 million).
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In contrast, Ogun, Bauchi, and Kano States witnessed strong growth in foreign capital inflow in the first quarter, each recording respective growth rates of 182.06%, 370.59%, and 154.84% on a quarter-on-quarter basis.
These are the top 10 countries with the most capital inflow into Nigeria in Q1 2018
1. United Kingdom (UK) – $2.25 billion
2. United States, accounting for $1.26 billion
3. South Africa – $493.22 million
4. Ghana – $380.14 million
5. Mauritania – $360.54 million
6. Belgium – $319.50 million
7. Singapore – $242.96 million
8. Cayman Islands – $214.87 million
9. UAE – $185.06 million
10. Netherlands – $103.57 million.
Meanwhile, Nigeria is leading major African countries in foreign reserves, according to data from the central banks as at the end of April 2018.
