Nigeria’s Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) fell by 36percent in 2018 as Ghana led West Africa with the highest attraction of FDI within the year, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Global Investment Trends Monitor for 2018 has revealed.
According to the report, Nigeria, Africa’s top oil producer saw FDI drop to $2.2 billion in 2018, while Ghana recorded an inflow of $3.3 billion, placing it top in West Africa.
UNCTAD which blamed “some policy decisions” for Nigeria’s poor FDI inflow in 2018, said in the report, it expects 2019 to be better for the country, especially due to some significant greenfield project announcement in the oil and gas industry.
According to the report, Africa registered a 6percent increase in FDI inflows in 2018, recording $40billion in total FDI, up from a revised $38 billion in 2017, but noted that the growth was concentrated in few economies. It said Egypt and South Africa saw more stable and increasing FDI inflows in 2018.
“Egypt with an increase of 7percent from $7.4 billion to $7.9 billion, was the biggest recipient of FDI in Africa in 2018 with investments in real estate, food processing, oil and gas exploration and renewable energy,” the report said, while South Africa followed with a strong recovery in 2018 as the country’s FDI inflow rose to $7.1 billion from $1.3 billion in 2017.
It added that in contrast, flows to the two largest oil producers of the continent, Nigeria wirh $2.2 billion inflow and Angola with $5.1 billion inflow were low, with a decline and a net divestment respectively.
“In West Africa, Ghana with $3.3 billion inflow overtook Nigeria as the largest recipient of FDI in 2018. However, Nigeria reported a few significant greenfield project announcements in the oil and gas and chemical sectors, which could lead to a recovery in 2019,” said the report.
The Global FDI inflow fell by 19 percent in 2018, reaching an estimated $1.2 trillion from $1.47 trillion.
Expressing concerns, the report observed that the dip recorded globally has brought FDI to the low point it reached after the global financial crisis.
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