Nigeria: Cardoso - CBN Confident of Attracting $12bn Diaspora Inflows in 365 Days

*Says apex bank working assiduously to get Nigeria out of grey list

*Tinubu's bold reforms yielding results, Edun insists

Eromosele Abiodun and Nume Akeghe in Washington DC

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Olayemi Cardoso, yesterday in Washington DC stated that having addressed concerns raised by International Money Transfer Operators (IMTOs) and with the assurances from Nigerians in the Diaspora, the apex bank was confident that it would attract $1 billion monthly remittances.

Cardoso stated this at a joint press conference with the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Olawale Edun, at the end of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Annual Meetings.

The CBN governor, who said the apex bank was working assiduously to get Nigeria out of the grey list, added that remittances, which were a little above $250 million as of April this year, increased to over $600 million as of September this year.

This is just as Edun has declared that the bold reforms of President Bola Tinubu's administration were yielding the desired results.

According to Cardoso, "Nigeria has such a strong diaspora community here; in the earlier stages of the reforms, IMTOs were having issues transferring money back to Nigeria, and we felt it was important to engage them, and we did. As a result of that engagement, we identified particular problems, of which a lot of responsibility was shared. Things have since improved because as at the last meetings, which was, I think, April, monthly inflows were about $250 million, but as of September, it had risen to $600 million.

"With the recent announcement by Nigeria Interbank Settlement Systems (NIBBS) on Bank Verification Number (BVN), and other products that the banking industry is offering, and through engagement with the diaspora, we believe we will be able to move accordingly and again, rising from that engagement, we put our sights on increasing the inflows to $1 billion monthly and I'm confident that we will get there," he explained.

To further boost Investors' confidence in the Nigerian economy, the CBN governor disclosed that the apex bank was doing everything possible to remove Nigeria from the Grey List.

A grey list is a list of countries with shortcomings in tackling illicit financial flows.

Countries on the grey list are under increased monitoring by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) due to perceived weaknesses in their anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT)...read more on All Africa

Source: All Africa