Data by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), on Tuesday, showed that capital imported into Nigeria in the form of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), Other Investments and Portfolio Investment in the second quarter of this year stood at $1.792bn, almost double that of the preceding quarter.
In a document titled the NBS Q2 2017 Capital Importation Report, the bureau said the Q2 figure was $884.1m or 95.02% more than the $1.042bn reported in the corresponding second quarter of 2016, helped by the rise in share capital investment, which is closely related to Equity Investment (FDI and Portfolio) that was largely responsible for the huge growth in capital importation for the period.
The highest amount of capital for the period stood at $616.5m recorded in May, followed by the $612.6m in the following month; and $4563.3m in May.
“The main driver of the quarterly growth in capital importation in the second quarter was Portfolio Investments, which increased by 145.7%, followed by Other Investments, which grew by 95.02%, and then Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), which increased by 29.8% over the previous quarter,” the NBS noted.
Specifically, Portfolio Investment stood at $770.5m during the three month period, accounting for 43% of total; followed by Other Investments at $747.5m, or 41.7%; and the $274.4m FDI, which accounted for the remaining 15.3% during the quarter.
Year-on-year, Portfolio Investments increased by 128.4% from $337.3m in the corresponding period of 2016; just as Other Investments climbed 43.6% up from $520.6m; while FDI grew by 48.9% from $184.3m
A further breakdown revealed that Equity investments accounted for the lion’s share of total FDI, as it accounted for 99.9% or $274.1m of the total, Just as it rose 30.5% over the preceding quarter, while Other Capital accounted for the remaining $300,000 or 0.1%, after falling by 76.6% within the period.
Equities also accounted for $614.05m or 79.7%, the largest chunk of Portfolio Investments; while Money Market Instruments gulped $98.6m or 12.8%; and Bonds, the remaining $57.9m or 7.5%.
For Other Investments, loans remained the sole inflow as in previous quarters, accounting for 100% as the other components did not report any figures for the period.
During the period also, share capital imported stood at $932.58m, representing a rise of 548.5% over the previous quarter, just as it climbed 168% above the second quarter of 2016.
The amount, the highest since 2015 Q3, according to the NBS, represented a significant increase relative to recent quarters.
The sector that attracted the second highest value of capital imported was the oil and gas, which accounted for $19.39m or 10.6% of total, representing 88.4% over preceding quarter, but 5% down from the corresponding second quarter of 2016. It was followed by the services sector’ $145.56 or 8.1%; and production/manufacturing sector, $141.42m or 7.9%.
Lagos continued to account for the bulk of capital importation in the review period with 97.07% or $1.739bn related to its being home of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), apart from its position as the nation’s commercial and financial capital. Akwa Ibom followed as in previous quarter with $34.08m or 1.92% of total, representing an 85.6% increase over the amount recorded in the preceding quarter; ahead of Abuja’s $16.64m or 0.93%; while Oyo State trailed with $1.83m or 0.1%.
The NBS report further revealed that the bulk of the imported capital in the review period flowed from the United Kingdom, which accounted for $696.7m or 38.87% of the total, just as it represented 107.9% rise over the 2016 Q2 figure.
“Since 2010, the UK has accounted for the highest value of capital importation in all but two quarters (both in the second half of 2015),”the report added.
Inflow from the United States placed it second, accounted for $287.82m, representing 16.06% of total; followed by Belgium with 15.7%; and Singapore, 8.67%.
Banks through which the highest share of capital was imported were those with foreign parentage namely, Stanbic IBTC, Citi Bank and Standard Chartered Bank, which accounted for $1.267bn or 70.7% of total capital imported during the period, while the other 22 banks in the country were left with the balance.
Stanbic IBTC accounted for $589.84m or 32.91% of the total, most of which came in June ($302.949m) and May ($243.997m) a significant increase over the previous quarter’s $342.7 or 9.12% share. It was followed by Citi Bank Nigeria’s $342.7m or 19.12% attracted in April ($228.688m) and May ($114.049m), which also represented an improvement over the previous 5.12% in 2017Q1; while Standard Chartered Bank pooled 18.7%, the bulk ($220.851m) of which was in June, which was down from the previous 25.4% of total, even as it represented $103.7m more than what it imported in the preceding quarter.
Among Nigerian institutions, Zenith Bank took the lead, accounting for a total of $170.231m or 9.5% of total; Ecobank Nigeria (subsidiary of Lome, Togo based Ecobank Transnational Incorporated) recorded a total of $173.036m or 9.65%; while Access Bank followed from afar with $47.549m or 2.65%; among others.
Besides equity investments and oil and gas, telecommunications sector followed with $174.18m; ahead of the servicing sector’s $145.56m; production, $141.42m; the banking sector attracted $89.8m; financing, $57.31m; while agriculture pooled $23.71m.