Yemi Cardoso, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), during an interview with Bloomberg TV in London, disclosed that the country witnessed a significant foreign exchange inflow of approximately $24 billion in the first quarter of 2024.
Gatekeepers News reports that Cardoso pointed out that the monetary policy measures implemented by the central bank have had positive effects on the foreign exchange market.
He also highlighted that the first quarter of 2024 saw the highest FX liquidity since 2021.
“In terms of liquidity, especially on the foreign exchange side, we’ve 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% more than the quarters up to about 2021.
“Clearly, the tools are having a positive impact. So we believe that continuing on this trajectory, we believe that liquidity will continue to grow,” Cardoso said.
In addition, Cardoso said the apex bank has set up a committee to facilitate more inflow of diaspora funds into the official FX market.
He said the committee reported directly to him with the sole objective of doubling the inflow of foreign exchange from the international monetary operations (IMTO).
According to him, this committee has begun to yield positive outcome with an increase in inflow from Nigerians in diaspora.
“We’ve had a recognition of the huge role of the Nigerian diasporans play in remitting tremendous amount of money into the system over a period of time.
“We set up a committee which report directly to me with the goal of doubling the amount of foreign exchange inflow coming from the IMTO who service that segment the autonomous players.
“Already, it’s beginning to bring about result. Again, we are confident that with these kinds of measures liquidity will increase in our market,” Cardoso added.
