Foreign Investors’ Interest In Nigeria Plunges By 80%

Investment announcements in Nigeria fell to $1.69bn in the second quarter of this year from $8.41bn in Q1, indicating a decline of about 80 per cent, a new report by the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission has said.

The report said the total value of investments interests in the first half of this year fell by $1.57bn to $10.11bn, compared to the second half of last year. The figure is, however, $5.05bn higher than that of the same period of last year.

An analysis of investment announcements by sectors revealed that the manufacturing sector attracted the highest investments with $5.9bn or 58 per cent.

It was followed by construction, $2.9bn (29 per cent); electricity (including gas, steam and air conditioning supply), $680m (seven per cent); information and communication, $410m (four per cent); while others recorded $210m or two per cent.

By destination, Bayelsa and Delta states attracted the most investments out of the 14 states that were listed, with $3.60bn (36 per cent) and $2.94bn (29 per cent), respectively.

They were followed by Akwa Ibom with $1.40bn (14 per cent); Lagos received $0.70bn (seven per cent) while a total of $1.45bn (15 per cent) went to the other 10 states.

The report also showed that domestic investors made the highest contribution of $3.29bn or 33 per cent of the total investment announcements; $1.40bn (14 per cent) emanated from Morocco; $950m (nine per cent) from China; $640m (six per cent) from UK; and other sources accounting for $3.82bn or 38 per cent.

-Punch