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Nigeria extends naira incentive offer to boost Diaspora inflow

Published 06/05/2021, 11:44
Updated 06/05/2021, 11:48
© Reuters

ABUJA, May 6 (Reuters) - Nigeria's central bank plans to
extend a naira incentive offer to recipients of dollar
remittance until further notice, it said, in a push to boost
foreign currency supply.
Rising dollar demand has been putting pressure on the naira.
Nigeria is hoping it can attract remittances from its Diaspora
as providers of foreign exchange, such as offshore investors,
have exited after COVID-19 triggered a fall in oil prices.
Recipients of remittances from the Nigerian Diaspora made
through international money transfer operators licensed by the
central bank will receive 5 naira ($0.013) for every imported
dollar, the regulator has said. The bank said the scheme, which was meant to end on May 8,
would continue until further notice.
Remittances into Nigeria increased five fold from a weekly
average of $5 million to more than $30 million, Central Bank
Governor Godwin Emefiele said in February, after the changes to
Diaspora transfer rules.
Nigeria changed the currency of remittance payments to the
dollar from naira in November, after the currency fell to 500
naira on the black market. The naira is quoted at 485 per dollar
on the black market on Thursday.
Remittances, or money transfers, make up the second-largest
source of foreign exchange receipts after oil revenues in
Nigeria, Africa's biggest economy. Around $26.4 billion was sent
to Nigeria in 2019, according to the World Bank.
($1 = 380.57 naira)

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