The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has released the latest data showing that the total direct remittances from Nigerians in Diaspora dropped by 62,4 per cent to $1.96 billion in 10 months of 2021 from $5.21 billion it recorded in during the same period in 2020.
Remittances are funds transferred from migrants to their home countries. According to the bank, Nigeria received $19.2 billion and $5.5billion in total direct remittances between 2019 and 2020 respectively. The breakdown of total direct remittances, according to CBN’s ‘international payment’ data revealed that, in January 2021, $185 million was remitted, while in February, $452million was the total direct remittance.
It added that $227 million and $165mllion were the total direct remittances between March and April 2019 respectively while the total direct remittances dropped to $150 million in May; $378 million in June and $37.6 million in July 2021. For August and September, the bank reported $86 million and $224 million remittances were made while $51.74 million was recorded for October.
The CBN had licensed international money transfer operators (IMTO) to monitor legitimate foreign currency, especially dollar inflow into the country. In addition, banks and oil companies also remit foreign currency to the CBN.
