The Central Bank of Nigeria has said that aggregate foreign exchange utilisation in the 2017 financial year rose by 5.2 per cent to $27.64billion.
According to the information obtained by The Point, the apex bank also disclosed that visible import declined by 16.1 per cent to $15.16 billion, from $18.07 billion in 2016, and accounted for 54.8 per cent of the total.
A breakdown of visible import showed that foreign exchange utilisation in the industrial and agricultural sectors also rose by 12.4 and 3.0 per cent, to $6.97 billion and $0.30 billion,
respectively.
Foreign exchange utilisation for invisible trade improved by 52.0 per cent to $12.48 billion in 2017, and accounted for 45.2 per cent of the total. However, oil, transport, and manufacturing subsectors fell by 40.3, 26.2, and 23.0 per cent to $3.67billion, $0.41 billion, and $2.23 billion during the year.
Similarly, the amount utilised for food products and mineral import, declined by 20.4 and 19.6 per cent, to $1.51 billion and $0.08 billion in 2017, while foreign exchange utilised for business, financial, transport, and educational services were $1.27 billion, $8.72 billion, $0.87 billion, and $0.51 billion, indicating respective increase of 96.8, 40.0, 34.4, and 15.9 per cent, over the levels in 2016.
Conversely, the CBN also reported a 35 per cent increase in total assets to N29.6 trillion in 2017 from N21.9 trillion reported in the review
period.
Growth in external reserves and loans & receivables aided CBN’s growth in total assets in the year under
review.
As external reserves rose by 74.6 per cent to N14.58 trillion in 2017 from N8.35 trillion in 2016, loans & receivables added 28.3 per cent to N10.3 trillion from N8.02 trillion reported in 2016.
For the 2017 annual report released by the apex bank, the CBN reported 11 per cent increase in total liabilities to N12.5 trillion from N21.2 trillion in 2016, driven by 11.03 per cent increase in deposits to N12.5 trillion in 2017 as against N11.23 trillion reported
in 2016.
