By Folasade Akpan
The total value of capital importation in 2019 was 23.990 billion dollars, compared to 16.812 billion dollars in 2018, representing a growth of 42.69 per cent.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said this in its “Nigerian Capital Importation, Quarter Four, 2019” report released and obtained from its website on Wednesday in Abuja.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that capital import is an inflow of foreign capital either in the form of cash (loan or equity) or goods.
Capital imports are mostly in the hands of the public sector, driven by a demand created by immigration and other factors.
It is divided into three main investment types Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI), and Other Investments, each comprising various sub-categories.
A breakdown showed that the total value of capital importation into Nigeria in the fourth quarter of 2019 was 3.8 billion dollars, representing a decrease of 32.42 per cent compared to the third quarter which had 2.2 billion dollars.
The bureau, however, said in the same period in 2018, there was an increase of 77. 67 per cent.
The NBS added that the largest amount of capital importation by type investment was received through Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI), followed by Other Investments and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
The NBS said that the UK emerged as the country of origin with the highest amount of capital imported with 1.2 billion dollars, while Singapore emerged second with 610.89 million dollars.
This was followed closely by the U. S. with 584.52 million dollars and South Africa with 564.99 million dollars.
For full year, the UK topped the chart with capital importation of 11 billion dollars, while USA imported 4.7 billion dollars and South Africa 2.4 billion dollars, while Singapore had 1.02 billion dollar capital imported.
The NBS said that Lagos with 3.231 billion dollars was the destination with the highest amount of capital importation in the fourth quarter of 2019 and for the full year with 17.7 billion dollars.
This was followed by Abuja with 566.8 million dollars in the fourth quarter and 6.208 billion dollars for full year 2019.
“By Bank, Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc emerged as the bank with the highest amount of capital imported into Nigeria in quarter four with 1.225 billion dollars and 8.625 billion by full year 2019,” it said.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that data for the report was supplied administratively by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), verified and validated by the NBS.
