Diaspora remittances earned Nigeria USD 25 Bn in 2018 “The Nigerian diaspora sent an estimated USD 25 Bn in remittances to the country in 2018, representing 6.1% of GDP,” a section of a recent report released by PricewaterhoseCoopers (PWC) reveals.
According to the report dubbed, ‘Nigeria Economic Outlook-top 10 themes to watch out for in 2019′ the figure earned from diaspora remittances translates to 83 percent of the Federal Government budget in 2018 and 11 times the FDI flows in the same period.
The migrant remittance inflows was also seven times larger than the foreign aid received in 2017: USD 3.36 Bn.
A World bank 2018 report ranked Nigeria the 5th globally remittance recipient and first in Sub-Saharan Africa. The growth has been attributed to adoption of favorable measures that attract remittance inflows by the Nigerian government. The introduction of Certificate of Capital Importation (CCI), certificates issued as evidence of direct foreign capital investment into Nigeria, has helped boost foreign currency inflows.
Nigeria receives approximately 67 percent of the total remittance received in the Sub-Saharan Africa Region. The growth of the remittance industry in the country has also been majorly driven by the large number of Nigerian diaspora who have migrated overseas in search of greener pastures.
Annually, Nigerian migrants working abroad send billions of dollars back home to support and provide for their families. Maximum remittance is received from the US and the UK followed by other European countries. The rise in remittance inflows is despite the fact that the cost for money transfers in Sub-Saharan Africa has remained the highest in the world.
According to Remittance Prices Worldwide (Q3 2018), the average cost of sending money to Africa is 8.96%, compared with a global average of 6.94%. The PWC report further divulges that the value of migrant remittances into Nigeria are the United States of America, Switzerland, Germany, Russia and China. PWC pointed out that election uncertainty and lacklustre execution of policy reforms impacts foreign portfolio investment (FPI) as well as the FDI inflow.
They noted that for the first half of 2019, commodity prices, exchange rate movement and stability will be the key drivers of Nigeria’s economy. The report predicted that Nigeria is projected to add approximately 200 million people to its current population of 196 million between 2018 and 2050. Interestingly, the report forecasts that Nigeria’s population is expected to exceed that of the United States.
The report mentioned that “uncertainty about the 2019 election outcomes, policy implementation slowdown & sell-offs by foreign investors in 2018 expected to slow growth in the stock market in HY’ 2019 amidst monetary tightening by members of the frontier markets.”
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