Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) said $5.06 billion worth of investments were tracked for first half of this year, 67 per cent less than the value of $15.15 billion recorded same period last year.
Its Director Strategic Communication, Emeka Offor, said the decline was caused by the pressure on investment flows, given the negative global economic impact of COVID-19.
Offor said the Commission tracked a total of 34 projects across 16 states, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and the Niger Delta region from January to June, this year, through its Intelligence Newsletter.
The top destinations during the period were Kaduna State ($2.61 billion); Lagos State ($221 million), Nasarawa State ($56 million); Ekiti State ($50 million); and Cross River ($15 million).
Similarly, the top five sectors were transportation and storage (40 per cent), information and communication (32 per cent), mining and quarrying (22 per cent) finance and insurance (68 per cent), agriculture (20 per cent), agriculture (six per cent) and finance and insurance (three per cent).
The United States was the most active source of investments during the period with 43 per cent of the announcements.
The other major sources were South Africa (31 per cent), domestic investors (16 per cent), and United Kingdom (eight per cent).
NIPC’s Intelligence Newsletter culls Nigerian investment-related news from various sources. The report is based only on investment announcements cited in NIPC’s Newsletters from January to June 2020 and it may not contain exhaustive information on investment announcements during the period.
Nevertheless, the Report gives a sense of investors’ interest in the Nigerian economy. NIPC did not independently verify the authenticity of the investment announcements but is working on tracking the announcements to facilitate their progress to actual investments.