Briefing Paper

Nigeria Economic Update Issue 36

The first article is titled: ‘Fall in Foreign Capital Inflows’. Capital importation into Nigeria dropped significantly in first quarter of 2019 with more than 26 states unable to attract any form of foreign investment during the quarter. At $5.82 billion, total capital imported declined significantly by 31.4% relative to $8.49 billion capital imported in the previous quarter. The second article: ‘Impending Food Crisis’. Reports suggest that the World Bank has raised renewed concerns over Nigeria’s food crisis, as the institution asserts that Nigeria is unable to provide enough food for its over 180 million citizens, particularly for those in northern Nigeria. Earlier reports had stated that at least 22.7 million northern Nigerians are at risk of drifting into acute food shortage crisis in 2019, compared to 20.4 million reported for 2018. ‘Worsening DISCO Performance’. In this article the following is discussed: Reports from the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) show that the level of electricity distribution by the 11 electricity distribution companies (Discos) nationwide has significantly dropped by 46.73% to 2,962.82 megawatts5 (MW) as at September 5, 2019. The decline also shows unutilized power distribution of 3,274.9MW given that the certified distribution capacity of the 11 Discos is 6,235.7MW6. This shows that while a higher percentage of power is generated, Discos still opt to take less due to some operational constraints which also put them at risk of disconnection from the national grid. On page 4 the economic snapshot provides monthly and quarterly indicator figures.