By Chinwendu Obienyi
Nigeria faces a gloomy economic future as its international investment position (IIP) recorded a lower net financial liability of $74.48 billion at the end of 2022, data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) revealed.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), had on Monday revealed that the country’s headline inflation rose to a fresh 17-year high, increasing by 18 basis points (bps) to 22.22 per cent y/y in April as against 22.04 per cent recorded in March with analysts stating that they expect the inflation to go more higher at the end of May 2023.
Furthermore, the apex bank’s report revealed that the country’s international investments nosedived at the end of last year. This is however not surprising as the overall investment inflows in Nigeria decreased by 20 per cent in the year under review.
For instance, foreign investment inflows fell to US$5.3 billion in 2022 from US$6.7 billion in 2021, representing the third consecutive annual decline in the overall investment inflows, reflecting the waning investors’ confidence in the Nigerian economy.
On the other hand, total FPI inflows in 2022 stood at US$2.4 billion, which is 29.4 percent below its level in 2021. However, the country’s stock of financial assets increased to $109.33 billion at end-December 2022, compared with $108.05 billion at end-September 2022.
According to the apex bank, this was due, largely to the increase in the stock of financial assets, mainly, investments in other assets. Portfolio investment assets increased by 3.9 per cent to $3.57 billion. Similarly, direct investment assets increased by 2.3 per cent to $13.63 billion, from its level at end-September 2022, driven by higher acquisition of equity and direct investment fund shares by resident investors.
Other investment assets also increased by 3.2 per cent to $52.37 billion in the review period,from $50.72 billion in the third quarter of 2022. The stock of financial liabilities representing foreign investors’ claims on the economy increased marginally by 0.2 per cent to $183.81 billion at end-December 2022, compared with $183.45 billion at end- September 2022. The development was largely due to the increase in the stock of direct investment liabilities, relative to their levels at end-September 2022.
The stock of direct investment liabilities increased by 1.2 per cent to $88.20 billion at end-December 2022, compared with $87.18 billion at end-September 2022. The stock of other investment liabilities also increased by 0.3 per cent to $56.30 billion at end-December 2022, compared with $56.12 billion at end-September 2022.
However, the stock of portfolio investment liabilities decreased by 2.2 per cent to US$36.14 billion, compared with US$36.97 billion at end-September 2022.