Nigeria Records $952 Million for Foreign Remittances in Six Month – CBN

The total remittances recorded by Nigeria in six months was placed at $952 Million for the first half of the year 2023, the Central Bank of Nigeria has said.

The apex bank, CBN disclosed this in its International Payment just released. The half-year 2023 remittances, however, represent a 21% decline compared to the $1.210 billion recorded in the same period last year.

Remittances are inflows or monies sent into a country as payments.

It could have been much lower but for a spike in remittances for May and June to $202.89 million and $297.48 million respectively which were the highest recorded remittances for the first half (H1,2023)

Export and International payments data released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) showed that Nigeria recorded $79.18 million in remittances for January and $83.75 million in February 2023.

The data from the apex bank, however, is silent on countries of remittance origin but captures only the amount of inflow and outflow.

The drop in diaspora remittance confirms the poor global economic condition and the effect is also in the shortage of foreign exchange in Nigeria.

Read Also: Nigerians in Diaspora Remittances Amount to $168 Billion in Eight Years – World Bank

The improvement in remittances recorded in the months of May and June implies that the situation is changing, perhaps due to government economic reforms.

However, significant improvements started to register beginning from March as remittances rose to $138.62 million and $150.04 million in March and April respectively.

Remittances expansion continued with May and June hitting the highest above $200 million each month and the improvement is expected to continue in the months ahead given the recent devaluation of the Naira and improving macro economic environment of the country after the new government of President Bola Tinubu set out on chains of economic reforms.

In the previous year 2022, the country’s direct remittances stood at $2.16 billion as against  $2.43 billion in 2021.

In sharp contrast, remittances in 2022 were staggered but maintained a steady decline towards the end of 2022 till lately after the new government was sworn into office, indicating a loss of confidence in the past administration of Muhammadu Buhari.

In January 2022, remittances stood at $130,115,888.7, February was slightly elevated at $132,110,312.6, which further expanded in March to $203,794,664.3. The total remittances for the first quarter of 2022 were pegged at $466,020,865.

The month of April 2022 saw inflows of $165,771,432.3, May at $184,644,196.8 and the month of June saw the highest inflow for 2022 pegged at $394,546,934.47.

Total inflows for the stood quarter ended June 30, stood at $744,962,563.6.

The third quarter of 2022 started with $196,664,820.4 for the month of July while August saw $309,834,560.8 and September saw the lowest inflow in the year at $100,083,873.1 in direct remittances.

October recorded $110,778,558.7, November, $124,668,760.4, and December with a decline to $102,577,897.5.