Nigerian Economy Records $57.3bn Net Fx Inflow In 2017- CBN

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says net foreign exchange inflow into the Nigerian economy increased by US$20.13bn, or 54.12% in 2017, from US$37.19bn in 2016 to last year’s US$57.32bn.
According to the CBN’s audited financials for the year ended December 31, 2017, published on its website Tuesday, there was a net inflow of US$11.62bn, in contrast to a net outflow of US$2.10bn in 2016.
Meanwhile, aggregate foreign exchange inflow into the Nigerian economy increased by 45% to US$91bn, up from US$62.75bn in the preceding year, with inflows, through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), amounting to US$42.17bn, or 46.3% of the US$21.07bn recorded in 2016.
Inflow from autonomous sources stood at US$48.33bn, or 46.3 and 53.7% of the total.
“A breakdown of the forex inflow, through the CBN, showed that earnings from
crude oil export increased by 1.9 per cent to US$10.37 billion, above the level
in 2016,” the CBN noted.
This was attributed to price and output of crude, both of which rose relative to the preceding period, while non-oil component of the inflow, through the CBN, soared by 192.2% to US$31.8bn in 2017, above the level in the preceding year.
Factors responsible were listed to include: increase in forex purchases; government debt proceeds; securities lending cash collateral; and TSA and third-party receipts.
“Further analysis of non-oil inflow, through the CBN, indicated increase in cash swap in respect of BDC, was US$1.92 billion; unutilised funds from foreign exchange transactions, US$1.37bn; returned payments (wired/cash), US$1.15bn; return of unutilised International Money Transfer Organisations funds, US$1.02bn and interest earning on reserves and investment, US$0.33bn, compared with US$48.7m, US$142.1m, US$287.42m, US$94.55m and US$221.05m, respectively, in 2016.
“Swaps and other official receipts, however, fell to US$2.93bn and US$2.48bn, respectively.”
Inflow through autonomous sources rose by 17.1% from the level in 2016, with invisibles amounting to US$46.21bn; non-oil export receipts by banks, US$2.53bn; and external account purchases, US$0.09bn, constituting 94.6, 5.2 and 0.2%, respectively, of the total.
A further breakdown of the invisibles shows that over-the-counter (OTC) purchases and domiciliary account were US$26.38 bn, or 57.1%; and US$19.83bn, or 42.9% respectively.
Of the OTC purchases, while capital importation accounted for US$12.4bn; other OTC purchases stood at US$11.17bn; oil companies, US$1.7bn; and home remittances, US$1.1bn.
Aggregate foreign exchange outflow, from the economy, increased by 31.8% to US$33.68bn, above the US$25.55bnin 2016, just as outflow through the CBN of this amount accounted for 90.7%, while autonomous sources explained the balance.
“Foreign exchange outflow, through the CBN, increased by 31.9% to US$30.55bn, compared with US$23.16bn in the preceding year,” which was attributed, mainly, to
increased intervention by the CBN in the inter-bank and BDC segments of
the forex market.
“A breakdown of foreign exchange outflow, through the CBN, indicated that 3rd party MDA transfers, external debt service and drawings on letters of credit, at US$2.68bn, US$0.42bn and US$0.36bn, increased by 27.8, 20.3, and 139.2 per cent, respectively, above the levels in 2016.
“A disaggregation of foreign exchange supply to the market indicated that: inter-bank forwards amounted to US$10.54 billion; inter-bank sales, US$5.6bn; BDC sales, US$4.16bn; and matured swaps contract, US$1.11bn.”
Other official payments rose by 24.1% to US$5.43bn, attributed to increase in miscellaneous and estacode payments of US$2.99bn and US$0.23bn, compared with US$0.21bn and US$0.13bn, respectively, in 2016; just as Joint Venture Company (JVC) cash calls arrears fell by 26.3% to US$2.21bn, below the level of US$3bn in 2016.”
Outflow through autonomous sources in the period under review rose by 30.9%, above the level in 2016, to US$3.13bn, out of which payments for invisibles and import were US$2.54bn and US$0.59bn, respectively.