Nigeria’s diaspora remittances is estimated to grow by five percent this year due to the policies of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and increasing emigration of Nigerians to Canada and other countries.
Agusto Consulting Limited in its latest report unveiled on Tuesday stated that the country will record about $22 billion diaspora remittances by the end of the year.
The ‘2021 Nigeria diaspora remittance report & survey’ highlighted other factors that would boost the growth of remittances as CBN’s policy that is enabling recipients of remittances access to their funds in foreign currency.
Others are fiscal stimulus packages aimed at protecting wages and consumer spending in some of the major western nations (UK and US) and currency depreciation in Nigeria.
The Managing Director, Yinka Adelekan, and the Head of Consulting, Jimi Ogbobine, presented to report to journalists at a virtual event.
READ ALSO: Four Startups Receive N2.1m Each From Wema Bank’s Hackaholic 2.0 Bootcamp
Part of the report read, “We project that Nigeria’s diaspora remittances will reach $22 billion by 2021, representing a year-on-year (y-o-y) rise of five per cent. And then a marginal y-o-y rise of two per cent in 2022 to $22.5 billion.”
According to the findings of the survey, Nigeria’s diaspora remittances dropped by 12 per cent to $21 billion in 2020 from about $23.8billion the prior year.
According to the report, remittances represent household income from foreign economies arising mainly from the temporary or permanent movement of people to those economies.
It said previous studies had shown that about 70 per cent of remittances were used for consumption purposes, while 30 per cent of remittance funds went to investment-related use.
Agusto noted that the COVID-19 pandemic created significant global economic ruptures that had affected the rich world and the remittance dependent states.
Due to the crude oil volatility, it stated that the diaspora remittances which is Nigeria’s second largest source of foreign exchange inflows, had become more significant.
