By Adedapo Adesanya
The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Yemi Cardoso, has said the country recorded foreign exchange (FX) inflows of about $24 billion in the first quarter of 2024.
The disclosure was made by Mr Cardoso in his latest interview with Bloomberg TV on Tuesday in London.
According to him, the inflow is about 50 per cent higher than in previous quarters up to 2021.
“In terms of liquidity, especially on the foreign exchange side, we have seen an increase. The first quarter of this year has resulted in a total inflow of about $24 billion.
“Now, this is almost about 40 to 50 per cent more than the quarters up to about 2021,” the central banker said.
Mr Cardoso noted that the rise in FX liquidity in the first quarter of 2024 is the highest in any quarter since 2021, also noting that the bank was relatively pleased with the progress it has made in stabilising the Naira and would encourage measures to drive down the rates.
Recall that he also disclosed that the worst was over for the Naira’s fluctuations since he took over the mantle in the last nine months.
“We do believe that we have more or less seen the worst in terms of volatility. You recall that months ago when I assumed office in September of 2023, we did have a crisis on our hands and the naira was, you know headed in a direction that everybody didn’t like.
“There was a lot of fear, panic, loss of confidence and trust. And it was vitally important that we addressed those issues of confidence and trust.
“We are relatively pleased with how far we have gotten up to now. In the past two, or three weeks, after a period of volatility, we have seen a lot of stability in the market and there has hardly been any movement in the currency,” he stated.
Mr Cardoso also expressed optimism in the CBN’s multi-pronged approach to stabilizing the Naira, noting that before the recent interventions, speculation and manipulation in the FX forward contract market were contributing to naira volatility.
“Several things were done, which included appreciating the fact that there were a lot of distortions within the foreign exchange system that did not give people the confidence to want to invest or want to keep their money in Naira. Everybody exchanged Dollars and held Dollars and we addressed those issues using a flurry of different circulars, addressing some to the banks and some to the operations of the system itself. One of which is the fact that more confidence was going to come back into the market. A lot of inflows have come back because there’s very little liquidity at the time.”
Dipo Olowookere