The Telecommunication Sector Foreign Investment grew by 768.79% in the first quarter of 2024.
The foreign investment grew from $22.05 million in the first quarter of 2023 to $191.57 million in the first quarter of 2024.
This was revealed in a data published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) for Q1 2024 in Abuja on Monday.
The Telecommunication sector was able to attract foreign investors due to harmonization of the foreign exchange rate market, clearance of forex backlogs, naira devaluation and high interest rate.
The sector was unable to attract investors in 2023 as a result of the economic uncertainty in Nigeria.
This signals a return of foreign capital to a sector that could only attract $134.75 million in 2023, 42.17 percent less than what was raised in Q1, 2024 (and 239.02 percent less than the $456.83 million raised in 2022).
MTN Nigeria’s chief executive officer, Karl Toriola, said in the company’s financial report for 2023 that “2023 witnessed a very challenging operating environment characterised by rising inflation, currency devaluation and foreign exchange shortages.”
“To navigate these FX shortages and a slowdown in foreign investments, operators in the sector relied on commercial papers, letters of credit, and new debts to fund their capital expenditures. MTN Nigeria’s total debt grew by 70.69 percent to ₦1.18 trillion from ₦689.67 billion.”
In a similar development, the NBS said Nigeria’s capital importation rose by 210 per cent to $3,376.01 million in the first quarter of the ongoing year 2024.
Also, in its latest Rail Transportation data released on Monday, NBS disclosed that revenue from rail rose by 84.91 percent to ₦1.42 billion in Q1 2024.
Get instant and latest news updates via Our WhatsApp Community or Google News online channel.