By Ismail Auwal
The Central Bank of Nigeria’s Naira4Dollar scheme has attracted about $40 million in foreign remittances in one week, according to a reliable source with knowledge of the scheme.
Nairametrics reported that the scheme has performed a lot more than expected as remittances via commercial banks have picked up suggesting Nigerians in the diaspora had embraced it.
According to the paper, CBN received circa $40 million last week from remittances up from about $6 million before the policy was introduced. At $40 million a week the CBN could be attracting about $160 million a month or $1.9 billion per annum. This will be higher than the estimated $1.1 billion received in 2020 from diaspora remittances but much lower than the $3.2 billion received in 2019.
The central bank captures remittances in its Balance of Payment report and the Foreign Exchange Flows data. While the BOP includes non-cash items remitted into Nigeria, the Foreign Exchange Flows Data records cash items only.
Commercial banks in Nigeria are automatically opening domiciliary bank accounts for Beneficiaries of diaspora remittances in Nigeria under the CBN’s Naira4Dollar scheme.
As the beneficiary receives the inflows, N5 for every dollar remitted is a credit to the naira account of the beneficiary.
