NIGERIA’S capital importation has dropped by over 70 percent in the last 12 months, quarter three report of the Nigerian Capital Importation by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reveals.

The report, published on Tuesday by the NBS showed that the country’s capital importation plunged from $5.63 billion in Q3 2019 to $1.46 billion in the latest report of Q3 2020. However, on a quarterly basis, the latest figure indicates that there was an increase when compared to the second quarter figure ($1.29 billion), representing about a 12.86 percent increase.

The report further revealed that with about 96 percent share of the capital importation, Lagos-82.3 percent, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)- 13.4 percent emerged the top two destinations of investments into the country.

The largest amount of capital importation by type was received through “Other investment”, which accounted for 43.75 percent ($639.44 million) of total capital importation, followed by Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), which accounted for 28.38 percent ($414.79 million) and Foreign Portfolio Investment, which accounted for 27.87 percent ($407.25 million) of total capital imported in Q3 2020.

Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI) is the entry of funds into a country where foreigners deposit money in a country’s bank or make purchases in the country’s stock and bond markets, sometimes for speculation.

According to the report, Capital importation by Production dominated in Q3 2020 reaching $400.09 million of the total capital importation in Q3 2020 on a sectoral basis, while the banking sector came second with a $384 million investment.

The NBS report also showed that the United Kingdom emerged as the top source of capital investment in Nigeria in Q3 2020 with $594.65 million investment, representing about 40.69 percent of the total capital inflow in Q3 2020, while the Netherlands came second with $176.28 million imported investment, representing 12 percent of capital imported into the country in Q3 2020.