Standard Chartered and Citibank Nigeria were Ranked First and Second in Banks’ Investment Inflow, Respectively.

INVESTMENT INFLATION by some selected banks in the country reveals that Citibank Nigeria ranked first in the second quarter (Q2) 2022, accounting for $450.94 million (29.37 percent) of total investment.

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NewsReport that with $323.24 million (21.05%) and $163.92 million, respectively, Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria Limited and Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc were next in line (10.68 per cent).

According to the Nigerian Capital Importation Q2 2022 report, which was posted on the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) website last week, Nigeria’s banking heavyweights were not left out from the mix as Zenith Bank brought in $128.38 million alongside Access Bank ($101.14 million), Ecobank ($82.94 million), FCMB ($15.75 million) and the UBA and Fidelity recorded $9.70 million and $6.21 million, respectively.

Sectoral analysis showed that capital importation into banking had the highest inflow of $646.36 million amounting to 42.10 per cent of total capital imported in the second quarter of 2022.

This was followed by capital imported into the production sector, valued at $233.99 million (15.24 per cent), and the financing sector with $197.31 million (12.85 per cent).

Analysts at Cowry Assets Management Limited took a close look into how foreign investors’ appetite for investment in Nigeria at the moment.

This, they say, looks wobbly in the face of monetary policy normalisation triggered by the spiralling inflation trend across the globe and leading to capital repatriation from frontier economies such as Nigeria whose currency is weakening against the greenback as a result of unabating panic buys in the FX market.

To better explain the above, the recent capital importation data showed that during the second quarter of 2022, the total value of capital imported into Nigeria soared 75.3 per cent year-on-year and printed at $1.54 billion from $875.62 million in the same period last year.

This translates to encouraging growth, but a look at the numbers from the first quarter of 2022 showed a decrease of 2.40 per cent ($37.8 million) from $1.57 billion.

Consequently, the inflow during the period was highest through portfolio investment which accounted for more than 49 per cent or $757.3 million of the total and was supported by investors’ interest in money market instruments ($422.6 million) and Bonds ($322.04 million) during the quarter.

Trailing this category was other investment with $630.9 million where loans ($595.9 million) and other claims ($35 million) drove the performance while foreign direct investment (FDI) was just $147.2 million resulting from investment into the equities space.

“Notwithstanding the dwindling in the total inflow during the quarter, Nigeria still remains a bride for investors as capital inflow from various origins places the United Kingdom as the top-ranked source with more than 50 per cent of the total and a value of $781.05 million.

Trailing were the likes of Singapore and South Africa with capital inflow valued at $138.58 million and $122.26 million, respectively.

The UAE and United States were not left out as Nigeria still stays highly attractive to these nations, importing $103.9 million and $80.20 million in that order.