Crude oil sales receipt into Nigeria’s official reserves is on a downward slope following recent non-remittance to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
This latest development was revealed by Godwin Emefiele, the CBN governor, over the weekend, where he explained that from over $3.0 billion monthly remittance by the NNPC in 2014, the CBN now gets zero dollar today.
Emefiele who spoke at the 57th annual bankers’ lecture sponsored by the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) in Lagos on Saturday, confirmed that there was a significant loss in foreign reserves due to the incessant struggle of the Nigerian currency – the naira – against the dollar, as well as the rise in demand for forex.
According to him: “The official foreign exchange receipt from crude oil sales into our official reserves has dried up steadily from above $3.0 billion monthly in 2014 to an absolute zero dollar today.
He added further that “increasing instances of crude oil theft have hurt” the nation’s ability to export enough crude oil and “consequently, its foreign exchange reserves are falling.”
People Gazette reports that Mr. Emefiele explained that the inflation rate would continue to be high and beyond the 12.5 per cent threshold that supports growth.
He confirmed, however, that the CBN would maintain the current tight monetary policy stance in the near term amid rising inflation expectations and exchange market pressures.
Emefiele also pointed out that the number of student visas granted to Nigerians by the UK alone climbed from an average of approximately 8,000 per year in 2020 to almost 66,000 in 2022, indicating an eight-fold increase to an annual outflow of $2.5 billion in foreign exchange tied to the UK alone.
