BY VICTORIA ONU, ABUJA
THE Central Bank of Nigeria has extended the naira for dollar policy aimed at boosting forex liquidity in the country until further notice.
The apex bank said this in a circular dated May 5, 2021, seen by THE POINT.
The CBN had in March introduced a N5 incentive for every dollar remitted into the country by Nigerians in the Diaspora.
The CBN circular said, “Further to the CBN Circular, referenced TED/FEM/PUB/FPC/01/003, dated 05 March 2021, on the above subject matter, which was originally scheduled to end on 08 May 2021, we hereby announce the continuation of the scheme until further notice.”
Nigeria’s apex lender had in March introduced the policy to provide for Nigerians in the Diaspora with cheaper and more convenient ways of sending remittances to Nigeria.
The CBN ‘Naira 4 Dollar’ is part of efforts to sustain the encouraging increase in inflows of diaspora remittances into the country.
The apex bank said under the scheme, all recipients of diaspora remittances, through the CBN licensed IMTOs, would henceforth be paid N5 for every $1 received as remittance inflow.
The implications of this, it noted, was that a typical recipient of Diaspora remittances would, at the point of collection, receive not only the dollar sent from abroad but also the additional N5 per dollar received.
This incentive, according to the CBN, is to be paid to recipients whether they choose to collect the dollars as cash across the counter in a bank or transfer same into their domiciliary account.
The World Bank had put the inflow of Diaspora remittance to Nigeria as of the end of 2019 at $23.8bn.
