By Abubakar Yunusa
Capital importation into Nigeria surged to $6.01bn in the third quarter of 2025, the National Bureau of Statistics has said.
The figure represents a sharp 380.16 per cent increase from the $1.25bn recorded in the same period of 2024.
The data is contained in the Q3 2025 Capital Importation Report released by the bureau on Monday.
The NBS also reported a 17.46 per cent rise compared with the $5.12bn posted in the second quarter of 2025.
According to the report, portfolio investment dominated capital inflows during the quarter, accounting for $4.85bn or 80.7 per cent of the total.
Other investments followed with $864.57m, representing 14.37 per cent, while foreign direct investment recorded the lowest inflow at $296.25m or 4.93 per cent.
The banking sector emerged as the biggest beneficiary, attracting $3.14bn, which is 52.25 per cent of total capital imported in Q3.
This was followed by the financing sector with $1.86bn and the production and manufacturing sector with $261.35m.
Other sectors that received inflows include electrical ($244.86m), telecommunications ($208.51m), shares ($94.89m), trading ($80.94m) and real estate ($61.07m).
The bureau said agriculture attracted $24.67m, while fishing received $5m and IT services $11.55m. Transport recorded $5.23m, oil and gas $4.6m, construction $2.88m, consultancy $0.36m, and public administration and defence $0.35m.
Health and social services recorded the least inflow at $0.02m.
The report showed that the United Kingdom was the largest source of capital inflows, contributing $2.94bn or 48.8 per cent of the total.
The United States followed with $950.47m, while South Africa accounted for $773.95m.
Other notable sources were Mauritius with $451.46m and the Netherlands with $282.9m.
Among financial institutions, Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria Limited led with $2.12bn in capital importation.
Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc followed with $1.79bn, while Citibank Nigeria Limited recorded $561.4m.
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