Nigeria’s external reserves dropped by $314.67 million or 0.89 percent in about 13 days, the latest data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) website on Friday has shown.
The statistics on the movement of external reserves indicated that the balance in Nigeria’s reserves is $34.94 billion as of April 28, 2021, compared with $35.25 billion on April 16, 2021.
The development has been attributed to rising demand for foreign exchange by importer and investors who want to repatriate their profits.
Before now, the foreign reserves have been on the upward trend due to different initiatives introduced by the financial regulator to shore up forex reserves.
One of such initiatives, the ‘Naira 4 Dollar Scheme’ which will end on May 8, 2021, was introduced to encourage Diaspora remittances.
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According to the initiative, all recipients of Diaspora remittances through CBN’s International Money Transfer Operators (IMTO) will be paid N5 for every $1 received as remittance inflow.
The CBN described the initiative as an incentive for both senders and recipients of Diaspora remittances, in the circular signed by the Director, Trade and Exchange Department at CBN, A.S Jibrin.
The financial regulator said the initiative would sustain and encourage increase in inflows of Diaspora remittances into Nigeria.
