…as Nigerians ask for relief from economic hardship
By Olawale Lamina
The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, under Olayemi Cardoso, as governor has seen a significant rise with Foreign Exchange, FX, Reserves hitting $51.03 billion, according to information from the apex financial institution.
This was announced on Thursday, as the rise compared with what obtained in January 20, 2009, more than 17 years ago. The figure also represents the highest since the beginning of the year and under Olayemi Cardoso’s administration.
It is worth noting that on January 20, 2009, the FX reserves was $51.07 billion.
The data by the apex bank indicated a steady rise in FX reserves up.to 3.76 percent or $1.85 billion, from $49.18 billion reported on April 1, representing the start of the second quarter (Q2), to $51.03 billion on June 18.
Nigeria’s external reserves had before now crossed the $50 billion threshold on March 10, standing at $50.01 billion, and continued to rise in subsequent months, hitting $50.11 billion on June 5 before climbing above $51 billion presently.
The CBN data revealed that the improvement came as a result of increase through review in payment method of the International Money Transfer Operators (IMTOs) in March.
The apex bank mandated all IMTOs to open naira settlement accounts and route all remittance transactions through them, resulting in recipients of diaspora remittances receiving payments in the local currency from May. This in turn resulted in sharp end to decades of dollar payments to Nigerians when relatives abroad send money home.
The CBN report stated that the directive forms part of current initiative to strengthen the remittance framework introduced in its revised guidelines for international money transfer services released in January 2024.
But amidst the increase in Forex Reserves, ordinary Nigerians have continued to demand an answer to why the current economic challenges have continued to hit families hard without corresponding relief. They associated the rise in FX reserves with a likely end to inflation and the ability of government to bring instant relief to poor Nigerians. But there are other economic indices to consider beyond rise in FX reserves, like rise in export, reduction in cost of production and cost of doing business, apart from favourable balance of trade. These are realistic ways to check inflation and boost the nation’s Gross Domestic Products, GDP.
Experts have continued to advise the government to address poverty by giving more support to the SMEs and initiate more interventionist programmes to alleviate poverty.
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