Yemi Cardoso, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), revealed that between January and June 2024, capital imports increased to $5.92 billion. He made this statement during a press conference held on Tuesday following the 296th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja.
The governor of the CBN stated that overall capital imports rose from $1.77 billion over the same time frame in 2023. This indicates 234% annual growth.
According to Cardoso, capital imports between January and June totaled $5.92 billion, up from $1.77 billion over the same period in the previous year. All of that is really advantageous for managing foreign exchange.
Capital importation is likely to be $2.55 billion in Q2 2024
According to the CBN governor’s calculations, capital imports in the second quarter of 2024 were $2.55 billion.
Nigeria’s overall capital imports increased by 210.16%, from $1.08 billion in Q4 2023 to $3.37 billion in the first quarter of 2024, according to information previously released by Nairametrics. This was stated in the capital imports report from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) for the first quarter of 2024.
This indicates that $3.37 billion of the $5.92 billion reported in the first half of this year came from Q1 2024. Additionally, this indicates that by Q2 2024, capital imports will have decreased by 24% on a quarterly basis to $2.55 billion.
Nigeria sees rising inflows
The CBN governor also disclosed that inflows in the country have been on the rise.
He said: “On the foreign exchange side, because we all accept the fact that the foreign exchange pass-through is very significant, I am happy to say that we have seen positive outcomes from the tools we have been using over the recent past.
“For example, exchange rates have converged, limiting the opportunities for arbitrage. This is very important. Inflows have increased by 37.93% between January and May 2024 to $38.8 billion. Net inflows, more importantly, grew 73.4% in May 2024 compared to May 2023.”
Cardoso also disclosed that Diaspora remittances have gone up to $2.34 billion as of the end of June 2024, in comparison to $1.58 billion from the corresponding period last year.