The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has made it clear that Nigeria presently enjoys steady capital flows and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) as a result of the prevailing stable macroeconomic environment and sustained investors’ confidence in the economy.
Reacting to report by Reuters, a foreign news agency that quoted World Investment Report, 2019 in a recent release by UNCTAD on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to African countries, the CBN called on Nigerians to take advantage of several of its publications and that of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which give adequate and accurate statistics on the subject matter.
In a statement today, June 17, the apex bank’s Director of Corporate Communications, Isaac Okorafor said that while the CBN is not privy to the methodology used in arriving at the figures, “we wish to state that available records show a significant increase in FDI in Nigeria during the period 2018, contrary to the Reuters’ report.
“For instance, in 2018, the total capital inflows to the country stood at $19.07 billion out of which FDI accounted for $7.78 billion.
“Furthermore, total capital flows to Nigeria, from January to May 2019 stood at $14.2 billion of which FDI accounted for $2.87 billion, representing a 20.18% of the total amount.”
The Reuters’ report quoted UNCTAD as saying that there was a decrease of over 40% in FDI inflows to Nigeria in 2018.
