Nigeria’s total capital importation in the second quarter of this year dropped 12.53 percent from what was recorded in the first quarter of the year.
The Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which provided this data in its 2018 Second Quarter Report on Nigeria Capital Importation, reported that total value of capital importation into Nigeria stood at $ 5.513 billion in the quarter under review, down from the $6.3 billion recorded in the previous quarter.
However, the agency noted that when analysed year-on-year, the Q2, 2018 capital imports represented about 207.62 percent increase compared with the value of the corresponding quarter of last year.
The Bureau attributed the slump in the value of capital imported during the quarter primarily to a decline in Portfolio and Other Investments, which dropped by 9.76 per cent and 24.07 percent respectively.
According to the NBS, an analysis of the importation on type basis showed that the largest amount of capital importation by type was received through Portfolio investment, which accounted for 74.7 per cent ($4,119.5m) of total capital importation.
This was followed by Other Investment, which accounted for 20.5 per cent ($1,132.8m) of total capital, and then Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), which accounted for 4.7 per cent ($261.4m) of total capital imported in the second quarter.
Portfolio Investment has been expanding faster than the FDI and other investments over the past few quarters.
The NBS reported that despite the performance of Portfolio investment during the quarter under review, its value was lower than the value recorded in Q1, 2018, decreasing from $4.565 billion in Q1, 2018 to $4.119 billion in Q2, 2018.
In the second quarter under review, total Foreign Direct Investment inflows stood at $261.35 million, growing by 5.97 per cent from the first quarter of the same year, but falling by 4.75 per cent when compared to the corresponding quarter of last year. FDI represented only 5 per cent of the total capital import.
A further decomposition of the capital importation on type basis reflected that Equity Investment dominated FDI in the second quarter, accounting for 97.85 per cent of total FDI attracted into the economy.
Also, Capital Importation in the form of Other Capital recorded significant expansion, growing from only $5,000 in Q1 to $5.63 million in Q2, representing an increase of over 1,000 percent compared to the same period of last year.
Capital Importation in the form of Money Market Instrument declined to $2,670.93 million in the second quarter, representing a 24.29 per cent drop over the previous quarter. However, Investments in both Equity and Bonds (under Portfolio Investments) reported steady quarter-on-quarter growth, with 49.43 per cent and 19.13 per cent respectively.
The NBS reported further that investments in Bonds under Capital Importation type had been growing since Q2, 2017, and in Q2 2018, it accounted for 9.71 per cent of total Portfolio Investment.
This is even as it reported Other Investments in the quarter under review as totalling $1.132.75 billion, thereby sustaining its declining trend since the beginning of 2017, from $1.526 billion in Q4, 2017 down to $1.491 billion Q1, 2018, and further falling by 24.07 per cent in Q2, 2018.
The Bureau noted that this category (Other Investments) accounted for 20.5 per cent of total Capital Importation in the second quarter of 2018. As in previous periods, Other Investment was dominated by Loans ($1,121.66 million), which accounted for over 99 per cent of Other Investments in the reviewing quarter.
Other Claims fell sharply, from $223.49 million in Q1 to $11.08 million in Q2. Trade Credits and Currency Deposits posted no inflow in the second quarter of 2018.
