Manufacturing and construction sub-sectors of the economy dominated the total $8.41 billion of fresh investment announcements by prospective investors tracked by the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) in the first quarter of 2021.
The investment promotion agency said in its latest investment announcements report for the first quarter of the year that 60 percent of the announcements monitored for thd period were in the manufacturing sector, while 34 percent were in the construction sector.
The report said the total value of investment announcements tracked was about 75 percent more than the value in the corresponding period in 2020 ($4.81 billion).
The Commission said the improved volume of investment announcents was as a result of the gradual return of investors’ confidence in the country’s economy in the aftermath of the global negative impact of the COVID-induced decline.
The Commission continues the release of the NIPC Intelligence Newsletter 6 days a week and tracked a
Out of a total of 15 projects tracked by the Commission across eight States of the Federation in the period under review, the Commission said the largest share of the announcements came from Bayelsa State, with total value of investment announcements valued at about $3.6 billion in mining and quarrying.
Delta State followed closely with $2.94 billion worth of announcements in seaport construction and power transmission, while Akwa Ibom State came third with $1.4 billion announcements in mining and quarrying.
Lagos State came next with announcements totalling $0.26 billion in finance, insurance, and manufacturing.
The NIPC Report said the leading four investment destinations in the quarter accounted for 97 percent of the total investments announced as against 56 percent in the corresponding period last year.
Further review of the report showed that domestic investors were the most active during the period, accounting for 35 percent of the announcements, followed by investment announcements from Morocco (17 percent), the United Kingdom (3 percent) and the USA (one percent).
In publishing the report, the NIPC clarified that the publication may not be exhaustive, as it was based only on the 340 news articles cited between January to March 2021, although it said it was enough to give a sense of investors’ interest in the Nigerian economy.
