Nigeria Capital Importation
$6.01 Billion — Q3 2025
Foreign capital inflows into Nigeria hit $6.01 billion in Q3 2025 — up 380% year-on-year and the highest quarterly figure in years. Portfolio investment dominates at 80.7%.
Total Q3 2025
$6.01bn
capital imported
YoY Change
+380%
vs Q3 2024 ($1.25bn)
QoQ Change
+17.5%
vs Q2 2025 ($5.12bn)
Portfolio Share
80.7%
of total inflows
Capital Importation Trend (US$ million)
Q3 2025 is nearly 5× the Q3 2024 figure.
Breakdown — Q3 2025
Portfolio = equity, bonds, money market. FDI = direct equity stakes. Other = loans.
Editor's Insight
What $6 billion in capital importation really means
+380% YoY — Nigeria is back on the radar of foreign investors
$6 billion in a single quarter is a striking reversal. In Q3 2024, Nigeria attracted just $1.25 billion. The turnaround reflects FX liberalisation, improved policy credibility under the CBN, and rising yields on naira assets. Foreign investors are returning — cautiously, but at scale.
80% portfolio — hot money, not factories
The critical caveat: 80.7% of inflows are portfolio investment — bonds, equities, money market instruments. This is "hot money" that can leave as quickly as it arrived. FDI (actual factories, plants, long-term stakes) was just 4.9%. Nigeria is attracting speculators, not builders. For structural development, FDI is what matters.
UK sends 49% — City of London, not diaspora
The UK's 48.8% share ($2.9bn) reflects London-based financial institutions routing capital through UK entities, not Nigerian diaspora remittances (which are tracked separately). Standard Chartered and Stanbic IBTC — both with strong London connections — together accounted for 65% of all inflows through their Nigerian operations.
Banking gets 52% — the real economy gets very little
Over half of all capital importation flows into the banking sector — primarily through financial instruments, not productive investment. Manufacturing received a fraction of the total. This pattern has persisted for years: foreign capital enters Nigeria's financial system, earns returns on T-bills and bonds, and leaves. The challenge is channelling inflows into the productive economy.
About this data
Data sourced from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Capital Importation Report for Q3 2025. Capital importation covers all foreign capital inflows into Nigeria through the banking system. Figures.ng republishes official NBS data for every Nigerian.