Ike Amos
Dublin, Ireland — The Nigerian oil and gas industry attracted $68.57 million foreign investments in six months, from January to June 2021, accounting for 2.46 per cent of total foreign capital imported into the country within the period.
According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), total capital imported into the Nigerian economy in the first six months of the year stood at $2.782 billion.
The NBS, in its Nigerian Capital importation Report for the first and second quarter of 2021, disclosed that the foreign investment inflow into the oil and gas industry in the first six months of 2021 was 292.95 per cent higher than the $17.45 million imported into the sector in the same period in 2020.
The total inflow into the sector in the first half of 2021 was also 86.03 per cent higher than the $36.86 million foreign capital imported into the sector in the second half of 2020.
Giving a breakdown of the inflows, the NBS noted that Nigerian oil and gas industry recorded foreign investment inflow of $57.25 million and $11.32 million in the first and second quarter of 2021, respectively; compared to $10.09 million and $6.55 million recorded in the first and second quarter of 2020, respectively.
In the third and fourth quarter of 2020, the NBS reported that foreign capital inflow into the Nigerian oil and gas industry stood at $25.03 million and $11.83 million, respectively.
While the oil and gas industry accounted for 2.46 per cent of total foreign capital in the Nigerian economy in the first half of 2021, it accounted for 0.24 per cent of the total capital imported into the economy in the same period in 2020.
Furthermore, the report revealed that inflows into the petroleum industry in the first half of 2021 was 28.14 per cent, or $15.06 million higher than the $53.51 million imported into the sector in the whole of 2020.
Specifically, in 2020, the NBS noted that $10.09 million, $6.55 million, $25.03 million and $11.83 million foreign capital flowed into the oil and gas industry in the first, second, third and fourth quarters, respectively, accounting for 0.55 per cent of the $9.68 billion foreign capital inflow into the country in 2020.
In general, the NBS said: “The total value of capital importation into Nigeria declined to $875.62m in the second quarter of 2021 from $1.906 billion in the first quarter of 2021. This represents a decrease of 54.06 per cent compared to first quarter 2021 and 32.38 per cent decrease compared to the second quarter of 2020.
“The largest amount of capital importation by type was received through Portfolio investment, which accounted for 62.97 per cent ($551.37 million) of total capital importation, followed by Other Investment, which accounted for 28.13 per cent ($246.27 million) of total capital imported and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), which accounted for 8.90 per cent ($77.97 million) of total capital imported in the second quarter of 2021.
“By sector, capital importation by banking dominated in second quarter 2021, reaching $296.51 million of the total capital importation in second quarter 2021.
