CBN Records $600m Remittance Inflow Through IMTOs Reform

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced that its recent reformation of the International Money Transfer Operators (IMTOs) segment of the financial sector has seen the inflow of remittances growing from $200 million to about $600 million within a six-month period.

“And happily, we’ve seen the results of that effort. I would say that when we started, the volume that was going through the remittances of overseas was in the region of maybe about $200 million. And as at the end of last month, we were almost at $600 million,” the CBN Governor Yemi Cardoso disclosed during a dinner he hosted at the 30th Nigeria Economic Summit in Abuja.

Cardoso said the development was a positive outcome of his meeting with operators of the IMTOs earlier this year in Washington DC on the sidelines of the IMF/World Bank spring meetings. CBN had announced the overhauling of their operations to make it a lot easier for them to get their licences to be able to operate.

Mr Cardoso stated that the CBN will focus on its core mandates – price stability and managing inflation. He argued that the much of the macro-economic challenges facing the country would be reduced with the tackling of inflationary pressure through the ongoing rates hike.

Asked if the central bank would do any trade-offs to make the economic and financial environment easier for the private sector to operate and thrive, he said, “I see no substitute for the fundamentals of the economy. No substitute. So before we start talking about trade-offs we are making, I think we all have to agree that ultimately we have to get the fundamentals of the economy working.”

He claimed that the monetary and fiscal policies of the current administration were helping to restore confidence in the nation’s economy. “If you look at the ratings of the rating agencies, you will find that over this time, they have changed the ratings of the country to positive. At least two out of three of them have done so,” he stated. “They see the role of the Central Bank and the country as positive.” However, he admitted that there was still a lot to be done to put the economy in the right direction.

Mr Cardoso charged the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) to be bold and steadfast in pressing for transformative economic reforms that are needed for growth and job creation.

The CBN governor said his administration was transforming the central bank into a new model, make an institution that works. He promised to build the CBN on core fundamentals that promote openness, accountability and transparency in all its dealings. “Very shortly, you will see a new website. And that’s all headed in the direction of transparency and innovation.”

Cardoso stressed the need for a strong and resilient banking sector in Nigeria as part of efforts to improve public confidence and drive home financial inclusion to the unbanked public.

Cardoso also said that so far, the road towards recapitalisation of Nigerian banks seemed to be going in the proper direction, with many of the banks still raising money. “So far, so good, we know that it will work out well and those who want to stay in the procedure category can do so. But importantly we’ve given the options.”

He told the summit that his administration at the apex bank was working to be ahead of time, building a resilient and strong financial sector. “It is important for us to be ahead of the game and it is for that reason that we are putting awful amount of effort into strengthening our capacity through our banking supervision capabilities to ensure that as the banks themselves are navigating through the challenging terrain, we are there to ensure that things are done in the rightful manner, and that banks, according to the phrase I used earlier, ‘the constituencies that we serve are served rightly’,” he stated on Tuesday.