Foreign Exchange: Inflow Hits US$91bn in 2017 – CBN

• Foreign Exchange: Inflow Hits US$91 Billion in 2017 – CBN

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said the total foreign exchange inflow into Nigeria stood at US$91 billion in 2017.

This represents an increase of 45 percent from the US$62.75 billion recorded in 2016, the 2017 annual report released by the apex bank on Thursday showed.

The figure surpassed the US$57.32 billion outflow recorded during the same period.

Breaking down the report, inflow through autonomous sources stood at US$48.33 billion, accounting for 53.7 percent of the total inflow, while a total of US$42.17 billion or 46.3 percent came in through the central bank.

The report also noted that aggregate foreign exchange outflow from the economy rose by 31.8 percent to US$33.68 billion in 2017, up from US$25.55 billion filed in 2016.

The CBN accounted for US$30.55 billion (90.7 percent) of the total outflow, bigger than the US$23.16 billion reported in 2016.

However, outflow through autonomous sources stood at US$3.13 billion in 2017.

The CBN attributed the increase to the effectiveness of its forex policy and positive economic outlook. The central bank left interest rate unchanged during its last monetary policy meeting in Abuja, citing possible weak capital inflow due to rising interest rates in developed nations and the need curb inflation rate.