The National Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday released the Capital Importation report for 2018 with the economy attracting a total investment of $16.81bn during the period.

The bureau in the report stated that the total value of capital importation into Nigeria stood at $2,140.08 million in the fourth quarter of 2018. This represents a decrease of 25.05% compared to Q3 2018 and 60.24% decrease compared to the fourth quarter of 2017. Similarly, the total value of capital importation into Nigeria stood at $16,812.47 million in 2018 compared to $12,228.57 million capital imported in 2017. This represents 37.49% growth YoY.

The largest amount of capital importation by type was received through Portfolio investment, which accounted for 70.20% ($11,802.27m) of total capital importation, followed by Other Investment, which accounted for 22.69% ($3,815.53m) of total capital, and the Foreign Direct Investment FDI, which accounted for 7.11% ($1,194.67m) of total capital imported in 2018.

By sector, Capital importation by shares, which is closely related to Equity investment (FDI and Portfolio Investment) dominated 2018 reaching $10,425.18 of the total capital Importation in 2018.

The United Kingdom emerged as the top source of capital investment in Nigeria in 2018 with $6,007.99 million. This accounted for 35.74% of the total capital inflow in 2018.