By Adedapo Adesanya
Inflows through International Money Transfer Operators (IMTOs) grew by 47 per cent to $2.33 billion in the first six months of 2024 from $1.58 billion in the same period of 2023, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
This came following recent policy measures by the CBN that permitted eligible IMTOs access to Naira liquidity at the official foreign exchange window.
Last year, the CBN instituted some policy measures to make the forex markets more efficient and increase remittance flows through formal channels.
One of the early signs is that the country’s net foreign exchange inflows to Nigeria’s economy rose by 67.8 per cent to $27.6 billion in the first half of 2024 from $16.44 billion in 2023.
Data from the CBN’s quarterly Economic Statistics showed that the development was because of a 34.6 per cent increase in net inflows through autonomous sources and a 170 per cent increase in net forex inflow through the Central Bank of Nigeria in the same period.
The forex inflow to the economy rose in the period by 41.6 per cent to $47.73 billion in H1 2024, and from $33.7 billion in H1 2023.
Also, gross inflows through autonomous sources grew by 47.6 per cent year-on-year to $31.15 billion in H1 24 from $21.16 billion in H1 23.
However, forex outflows from the economy rose by 16.3 per cent to $20.12 billion in the six months from $17.3 billion in the same window of 2023.
Similarly, outflow through autonomous sources rose sharply by 160.8 per cent to $5.4 billion in H1 2024 from $2.07 billion in H1 2023.
Consequently, net forex inflow through autonomous sources rose 34.6 per cent to $25.7 billion in H1 2024 from $19.09 billion in H1 2023.
The data also showed that inflows through CBN grew by 31.7 per cent to $16.6 billion in H1 2024 from $12.6 billion in the preceding period.
However, outflows through CBN declined by 15 per cent to $14.7 billion in H1 2024 from $17.29 billion in H1 2023.
Consequently, net forex inflow through the CBN rose 170 per cent to $1.86 billion in H1 2024 from $2.65 billion in the first half of 2023.
