Nigeria’s net total foreign exchange (FX) inflow in 2022 dropped by 23.3% to $72.4 billion
This was revealed via the Central Bank Of Nigeria, CBN’s fourth quarter (Q4) of 2022 economic report.
When compared with the FX inflow in 2021 which was $94.3 billion, there was a 23.3 percent decline and when compared with the FX inflow in 2020 ($115.6 billion), a 37.4 percent decline was also observed.
From the data, there was an inflow of $29.89 billion which came through the CBN, while a total of $42.49 billion was recovered through other autonomous sources.
A review of the total FX outflow In the same period under review (2022) showed that a total of $40.99 billion was recorded. This was a little bit lower than the figure recorded in 2021 ($41.62 billion).
With the drop in foreign direct and portfolio investments, there have been a noticeable decline in dollar inflow in Nigeria.
According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), capital importation declined by 20.5% to $ 5.33 billion in 2022.
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Nigeria also witnessed a 33 percent drop in 2022 to $468.1 million. The figures recorded in the previous year - 2021 was $698.87 million.
Nigeria’s foreign portfolio investment also witnessed a drop of 27.9 percent as the figures dropped to $2.44 billion in the year under review. The CBN data also showed that the Apex banks’s I&E window, SME and Invisibles supplied a total of $15.27 billion to the economy.
In 2021, forex supply was $18.03 billion thus indicating a 15.3 percent drop when compared with the figures in 2022. FX supply was recorded as $22.16 billion in 2020 also indicating a 31.1 percent drop. .
Experts however, attributed the drop in the amount of FX supplied by the CBN to the inability of Bureau De Change (BDC) operators to get FX from the CBN.The FX scarcity has also been linked to the ripple effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the world economy, a development which caused the downward spiral of the Naira at both the official and black market.