operatorsThe first quarter of 2024 saw a 38.86 percent increase in foreign exchange inflows from international money transfer operators to $1.07 billion, up from $770.23 million during the same period the previous year.
The Central Bank of Nigeria recently released its quarterly statistical bulletin for the first quarter of 2024 on its website, and it disclosed this information. The data shows that the IMTOs reported inflows of $383.04 million in January, $322.83 million in February, and $363.70 million in March. The IMTO inflows increased by 10.74% in the final quarter of 2023 compared to the previous quarter.
The central bank recently disclosed that it has approved 14 additional IMTOs in principle to contribute to the growth of the official foreign exchange supply.
The CBN Governor, Dr Olayemi Cardoso, said that the recent approval of licenses for 14 IMTOs was expected to improve competition and lower the cost of transactions, thus attracting more remittances through formal channels.
“Let me give some context to this. I’m sure over the years, many of you would have read from the World Bank that Nigeria has significant remittances from the diaspora. We have identified that this is a critical element of inflows coming into the country. It is estimated to represent about six per cent of our GDP. We felt from the Central Bank’s perspective that to have a strategy to engage this sector, the entities that seem to play the biggest role in that sector are the IMTOs and so for us, it was important for us to meet them,” he said at the end of the Monetary Policy Committee meeting in May.
Also, the CBN has announced that eligible international money transfer operators will now have access to the official window to sell foreign exchange.
In a circular signed by the acting Director of the Trade and Exchange Department, Dr W.J. Kanya, the apex bank said that the measure, which was effective immediately, would enable IMTOs to access naira liquidity at the official window, thus enabling the timely settlement of diaspora remittances.
The apex noted, “The bank has implemented measures that will enable eligible International Money Transfer Operators to access NGN liquidity at the CBN window. These measures are aimed at widening access to local currency liquidity for the settlement of diaspora remittances.
“Therefore, eligible IMTO operators will be able to access the CBN window directly or through their authorised dealer banks to execute transactions for the sale of foreign exchange in the market.”
