Abuja Yet To Recover From Post-Election As 53% Foreign Capital Crashes

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is still recovering from the substantial decline in foreign capital that occurred following the 2023 elections in the second quarter of 2023.

The capital city saw a startling 53% decline in the second quarter of 2023, according to the National Bureau of Statistics’ (NBS) capital importation report. This data should worry investors and policymakers alike.

The statistics clearly show the sharp fall. Foreign investment in the FCT fell to roughly $194.28 million in the next quarter, from a strong $410.27 million in Q1 2023

This 53% drop is not the only alarming fact. A year-on-year comparison paints a similarly grim picture, with a 57% decline from Q2 2022’s $453.95 million to Q2 2023.

This downturn marks the lowest ebb in foreign capital inflow since Q4 2021, where the figure stood at $170.55 million.

36% y-on-y decrease in Q3 2023

Abuja is yet to recover from this new 15-month low as it recorded a very marginal increase of less than 1% by Q3 2023. Q3 2023 offered a twinkle of hope with a marginal uptick of 0.2%, reaching $194.66 million when compared with the previous quarter.

However, this was not enough to offset a year-on-year decrease of 36% from Q3 2022’s $303.81 million. Also, the cumulative impact over the first nine months of 2023 is stark as Abuja attracted a total of $799.21 million, which was a decline of 34% from the $1.2 billion recorded in the same period in 2022.