CBN holds talks with IMTOs to raise remittance inflows to $1bn monthly

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says it engaged leading international money transfer operators (IMTOs) to raise remittance inflows to $1 billion through formal channels.

Olayemi Cardoso, governor of the CBN, spoke about the remittance target during a press conference in Washington DC on Saturday.

Leading the Nigerian delegation, the CBN governor and Wale Edun, the minister of finance, have been engaging global leaders, investors, and the diaspora community in the past week at the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in the United States (US).

Speaking on the outcome of the meetings at the news conference, Cardoso said each engagement was designed to strengthen macroeconomic and financial system stability.

He said Nigeria’s participation was intended to advance a path towards sustainable and inclusive economic growth that benefits every Nigerian.

“Our team held productive discussions with leading IMTOs, where we collectively committed to growing remittance flows to 1 billion US dollars through formal channels into Nigeria…monthly,” Cardoso said.

“This target is both ambitious and achievable, and we are fully committed to mobilising resources to reinforce the collaborative task force which I am leading at the bank. We’re confident that we’ll get there.”

Cardoso said the team is focused on driving progress by identifying and resolving bottlenecks that hinder remittance flows through the formal channels into Nigeria.

On October 17, the CBN had said remittance inflows rose to $600 million as of the end of September.

The regulator had, on May 15, granted approval in principle (AIP) to 14 new international money transfer operators (IMTOs) to increase liquidity.

Prior to the approval, the apex bank mandated the IMTOs to only make naira payments to recipients in Nigeria, removing the allowable limit of the foreign exchange (FX) rate quoted for such transactions.

Also, on June 25, the apex bank granted eligible IMTOs access to trade on the official FX window — thereby allowing the IMTOs to access naira liquidity in the official market.