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Nigeria recorded a significant rise in capital Importation in the first quarter of 2025, with inflows climbing by 67.12 percent to $5.6 billion compared to $3.4 billion recorded in the same period of 2024.
The surge was largely driven by increased portfolio investments, reflecting renewed investor confidence in the country’s financial markets.
This is according to the latest report from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) titled “Nigeria Capital Importation Q1 2025”.
The figure also reflects a 10.86% rise from the $5.1 billion reported in the fourth quarter of 2024.
“In Q1 2025, total capital importation into Nigeria stood at US$5642.07 million, higher than US$3376.01 million recorded in Q1 2024, indicating an increase of 67.12 %. In comparison to the preceding quarter, capital importation increased by 10.86% from US$5089.16 million in Q4 2024,” the report stated.
The NBS also stated that portfolio investment ranked top with $5.2 billion, accounting for 92.25%, followed by other investment with $311.17 million, accounting for 5.52%.
According to the NBS, “Foreign Direct Investment recorded the least with US$126.29 million accounting for 2.24% of total capital importation in Q1 2025.”
According to the NBS, the banking sector took the lead with the highest inflows in Q1 2025.
The report stated, “The Banking sector recorded the highest inflow with US$3127.92 million, representing 55.44% of total capital imported in Q1 2025, followed by the Financing sector, valued at US$2097.48million (37.18%), and Production/Manufacturing sector with US$129.92 million (2.30%).”
The report further noted that capital importation during the reference period originated largely from the United Kingdom with $3681.96 million, showing 65.26% of the total capital imported.
“This was followed by the Republic of South Africa with US$501.29 million (8.88%) and Mauritius with US$394.51 million (6.99%),” NBS stated.
Furthermore, the Federal Capital Territory and Lagos received the highest amount of capital importation in Q1 2025.
“Out of the five states that recorded capital importation during the quarter, Abuja (FCT) remained the top destination with US$3047.45 million, accounting for 54.11% of the total capital imported. Lagos State followed with US$2564.68 million (45.44%), and Ogun State with US$7.95million (0.14%).
“Others were Oyo and Kaduna States with US$7.81 Million and 4.06 Million respectively,” the NBS report stated.
The report noted that Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria Ltd received the highest capital importation into Nigeria in Q1 2025 with $2.10 billion, followed by Stanbic IBTC Bank PLC with $1.40 billion and Citibank Nigeria Limited with $1.05 billion.
