FDI Inflows To Nigeria Fall 19% Over Second Quarter – CBN

Foreign direct investment in Nigeria, Africa’s top oil producer, declined 19 percent from the previous three months to $1.53 billion in the second quarter, the central bank said.

Foreign-currency inflows fell 15 percent to $23 billion during the period, the Abuja-based Central Bank of Nigeria said on its website yesterday. Foreign direct investment rose 2 percent from a year earlier while foreign exchange inflows increased 32 percent, it said.

The decline “may be linked to the Euro debt crisis which has continued to adversely affect major international financial centers and hence financial flows to emerging and developing countries,” the central bank said.

Nigeria’s current-account surplus almost doubled to $8.14 billion in the second quarter from the first, indicating “a significant improvement in the balance of trade position,” the central bank said. The trade surplus climbed to $12.5 billion from $8.75 billion in the first quarter.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation with more than 160 million people, aims to create an environment conducive to attract foreign direct investment, Trade and Investment Minister Olusegun Aganga said on Dec. 6.

Nigeria’s foreign reserves fell to $31.9 billion in the second quarter from $33.2 billion a quarter earlier.

Source: Bloomberg