(Ecofin Agency) - In 2019, Nigeria’s FDI net inflows may be negative at -3.2 billion US dollars, recent figures published by the Institute of International Finance reveal. This is a positive development compared with the -4.1 billion US dollars recorded in 2018 but, it is alarming.

Nigeria is one of the most important economies in Sub-Sahara Africa apart from South Africa. It is also a good indicator of the investors’ sentiment about the region.

Even though Kenya also attracts many investors, its profile is different from Nigeria’s on the international market. In 2018, FDI was NGN1,219 billion ($4 billion) on the Nigerian Stock exchange.  However, unlike in 2017, divestment was more than new investments by NGN66 billion.

It is possible that many foreign investors were worried about a possible post-electoral crisis but these elections were rather peaceful.

Yet, Q1, 2019 ended with a similar scenario. Not only was the value of foreign transactions lower than in 2017 but, the net inflow was -26.6 billion naira.

Nevertheless, there is hope. In March 2019, the FDI net inflow was positive with $2 billion recorded. The performance seems to be due to the improvement in oil prices.

Idriss Linge