With the economic recession in full swing, inflation rates as high as they have been in a long while and companies crying for help over investments, the recent statement by the Minister of Trade, Industry and Investment, Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah, will come as a surprise.
According to Enelamah, the country recorded over $20 billion investment inflows in the last one year, adding that such inflows came by way of infrastructure financing, transactions between local private sector players and their offshore counterparts, as well as sundry commitments, among others.
However, it seems that the Minister already knows that Nigerians will be surprised over this revelation. “Yes, people are surprised about how big investment inflows are because they have come in large chunks. But let me tell you that we have gotten a total of well over $20 billion,” ThisDay reports him as saying.
The major deals he cited include Chi’s deal with Coca Cola that ran into hundreds of millions of dollars, BUA sale of its flour mills unit to an international player, Olam International of Singapore and Chellarams, which sold a major part of their business to Kellogs of the United States. That deal was may be about $400 million.
The Minister however acknowledged that more is needed for the economy to feel the impact. “However, we want to increase the steady inflow of foreign direct investment across all levels because there are many more people waiting on the sidelines, apart from the big people who are doing multi-year infrastructure projects.”
