The value of capital imported into Nigeria in the second quarter of 2017 rose by 95.02 per cent or $884.1 million to stand at $1.79 billion compared to the value recorded in the first quarter.

The Capital Importation Statistics released yesterday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that the $1.79 billion imported in the second quarter of this year is also an increase of 43.6 percent from the $1.04 billion recorded in Q2 of 2016.

An analysis of capital importation in the second quarter shows that the month of May recorded the highest amount of capital importation being $616.5 million, followed by June with $612.6million and May with $563.3 million.

The main driver of the quarterly growth in capital importation in the second quarter was portfolio investments, which increased by 145.7 per cent, followed by other investments, which grew by 95.02 per cent, and then Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), which increased by 29.8 per cent over the previous quarter.

Portfolio investment was the largest component of imported capital in the second quarter of 2017, and accounted for $770.5 million, or 43.0 per cent of the total. This was closely followed by other investments, which accounted for $747.5 million, or 41.7 per cent, and then FDI, which accounted for $274.4 or 15.3 during the quarter.

A year on year comparison of the three investment types indicate that Portfolio investments increased by 128.4 per cent, from the $337.3 million recorded in second quarter of 2016. Other investments also increased by 43.6 per cent, from the $520.6 million reported in the same quarter of 2016, while FDI grew by 48.9 per cent, from $184.3 million.