CBN: Nigeria’s Foreign Direct Investment Dropped by 19.35% to $250m in Q1 2025
Nigeria’s foreign direct investment (FDI) declined by 19.35 per cent in the first quarter (Q1) of 2025, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), falling from $310 million in Q4 2024 to $250 million.
The decline was captured in the apex bank’s Balance of Payments (BoP) report for Q1 2025, which also highlighted a broader contraction in foreign portfolio investments and other financial inflows during the period.
“Direct investment (DI) inflows declined slightly to $0.25 billion in Q1 2025, from $0.31 billion in Q4 2024,” the CBN said.
Portfolio investments fared even worse, with the CBN recording a massive reversal in inflows.
“Portfolio investment (PI) liabilities (inflows) into the economy overturned to a record net divestment/reversal of $5.03 billion in Q1 2025,” the report stated.
The financial account balance dropped to $7.58 billion, compared to $7.82 billion in the preceding quarter. The decline was “as a result of a huge reduction in portfolio and other investment liabilities,” the CBN noted.
In addition, “other investment (OI) liabilities recorded a huge reversal of $4.32 billion in Q1 2025. OI assets recorded an investment outflow of $1.31 billion in Q1 2025 as against a reversal of $1.54 billion in Q4 2024.”
On Nigerian investments abroad, the report revealed, “direct investment assets recorded a reversal of $0.55 billion in Q1 2025, while portfolio assets recorded an investment outflow of $0.48 billion.”
CBN also disclosed that external reserves dropped sharply to $37.82 billion in March 2025 from $40.19 billion at the end of December 2024 — a $2.37 billion decline in three months.
