Business
Nigeria’s Foreign Investments Inflow Drops By 36%
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has disclosed that Nigeria’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) fell by 36 per cent to $ 2.2 billion in 2018 from $3.5 billion in 2017.
UNCTAD, in its Global Investment Trends Monitor for 2018, stated that despite Africa rising by 6.0 per cent in FDI inflows in 2018, Nigeria experienced a huge cut back, while the continent’s FDI inflows hit $40 billion last year from $38 billion recorded in 2017.
Meanwhile, the report stated: “Global FDI fell by 19 per cent in 2018, to an estimated US$ 1.2 trillion from US$1.47 trillion in 2017.
The third consecutive drop brings FDI flows back to the low point reached after the global financial crises.
“The decline was concentrated in developed countries where FDI inflows fell 40 percent to an estimated US$451 billion mainly due to large repatriations of accumulated foreign earnings by United States Multinational Enterprises, MNEs, following tax reforms.”
But the recent Global Investment Trends Monitor report said that Nigeria reported a few significant greenfield project announcements in the oil and gas and chemical sectors, which could lead to a recovery in 2019.
On Foreign Direct Investment inflow in Africa, the report stated: “Aside from Nigeria, another large oil producer, Angola recorded a decline in its foreign direct investment inflow to $5.1 billion in 2018.
Meanwhile, Egypt topped the list of best performing FDI, after the country’s inflow increased by 7 per cent from $7.4 billion to $7.9 billion. South Africa recorded a strong recovery in 2018 after the country’s FDI inflow rise to $7.1 billion from $1.3 billion in 2017.”
Cornerstone of Financial Services
A survey of more than 1 000 global finance leaders undertaken by digital payment network Ripple shows that 72% of respondents believe they need to offer a digital asset solution to remain competitive.
According to Ripple, leaders from the banking, fintech, corporate and asset management sector have made it clear that the “digital asset revolution is happening now”.
“Digital assets are quickly becoming a cornerstone of financial services, underpinned by progressive regulation, growing interest from Tier-1 banks, a steady consumer shift from banks to fintech providers, and booming stablecoin adoption,” Ripple says.
The survey was conducted in early 2026 and the findings released in March.
Stablecoin Boon or Bane?
Ripple has experienced significant success in the stablecoin sector since launching its Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin in 2024.
With a market cap of $1.56 billion, it is considered a major regulated player in the market.
No doubt the platform was pleased to learn through its own survey that financial leaders were most bullish about stablecoins.
Roughly three-quarters of respondents believed they could boost cash-flow efficiency and unlock trapped working capital.
Ripple noted that finance leaders were thinking about stablecoins as more than “just a new way to execute payments”; instead, they viewed them as effective tools for treasury management.
In March 2026, Ripple began testing a new trade finance model built around RLUSD in a bid to increase the speed of cross-border payments.
The pilot initiative, developed alongside supply chain finance company Unloq [https://unloq.com], is running on the XRP Ledger inside a testing framework developed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The Asian city-state is one of the platform’s biggest growth markets.
The idea behind the project is to see whether stablecoin-based settlement can streamline trade finance, too often hampered by reliance on intermediaries and slow reconciliation.
The only potential drawback is that if the initiative takes off, the Ripple to USD price could be negatively affected.
Ripple has always championed its native XRP token as a bridge asset, the “middleman” in the process of a financial institution turning dollars in the US into pounds in the UK, for example.
Ripple converts dollars into XRP and then back into pounds.
If RLUSD can do exactly the same thing, questions will be asked about XRP’s relevance.
That is a bridge Ripple will have to cross if it gets to that point.
Tokenisation Partners
Another interesting finding from Ripple’s survey is that most banks and asset managers are seeking tokenisation partners to help execute their strategies.
Some 89% of respondents said digital asset storage and custody were top priority. “Token servicing/lifecycle management also ranks highly for banks at 82%, while asset managers place greater emphasis on primary distribution at 80%,” Ripple found.
The survey also revealed that just more than half of fintechs and financial institutions want an infrastructure provider that can offer a “one-stop-shop solution”. This rose to 71% among corporate financial leaders.
Ripple attributes this to institutions and firms wanting uncomplicated, cohesive systems.
Infrastructure Rules
In its final analysis, Ripple says companies across the board are looking for partners and solutions that are “secure, compliant, battle-tested and that enable growth and execution”.
“The message is clear: infrastructure decisions made today will shape competitive positioning tomorrow.”
No surprise that this is precisely where Ripple is placing much of its focus.
