The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) reported at the weekend that Nigerians living overseas remitted a $19.8 billion to the country in 2022, representing a 7% increase (about $.5 billion) higher than the $19.3 billion they remitted in 2021, and about 5% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
These figures from the apex bank’s balance of payment data for 2022, indicated a significant improvement in remittance inflows into the country and demonstrated the resilience of Nigerians in foreign countries despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Recently, the improvements in diaspora remittances to the country have been helping the Nigerian government to keep the country’s foreign exchange reserves at a moderate level with the attendant positive implications for the nation’s GDP growth, especially in the past two years of post-Covid-19 pandemic period.
The official data showed that remittances in Q1 2022 diaspora remittances to the country totaled $5,159 million in Q1, indicating a positive trajectory from the previous year but had decreased to $4,948 million by the fourth quarter of the year Q4 2022.
In the past five years, diaspora remittances to Nigeria had been fluctuating, reaching a peak of $6.3 billion in Q4 2018 and recording its lowest inflow of $3.4 billion in Q2, 2020. ‘
Analysts attribute the decline in 2020 largely to the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which disrupted the global economic system, especially the inputs supply chains
However, as the pandemic ended, diaspora remittances to the country had been improving with global economic activities gradually increasing on yearly basis.
Already, experts have projected that this year diaspora remittances would cross the $20 billion mark and further sustainably increase in the years ahead as millions of Nigerians, especially the youths, are travelling out in search of greener pastures.
Nigeria’s main countries of remittances are the United States, Canada, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, and other countries in Europe, Asia, and Sub Saharan Africa (SSA).
