Key questions this article answers:
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What were the impacts of the CBN-imposed restrictions on receiving remittance inflows in local currency in 2020?
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Which stakeholders benefited most, and which groups were sidelined by the policy?
I’ll be the first to say it’s about time.
The days of waiting on manna (aka dollars) from abroad only for your local bank to run out of $50 bills need to be buried like a bad dream. Good thing the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) also agrees. I applaud the CBN for doing a U-turn on restricting remittance companies from paying beneficiaries in local currency, a policy introduced in late 2020.
For a nation of 133 million multi-dimensionally poor, Nigeria has no business with policies that scare off operators that offer cash-strapped Nigerians a way to receive timely help from relatives abroad. In this article, I’ll review the motivations behind CBN’s local currency restrictions, its
