The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said receiving international cash transfers in foreign currencies by Nigerians will affect the Naira negatively.
Ms. Ozemena Nnaji, Director, Trade, and Exchange in the apex bank said this to the House of Representatives Committees on Diaspora, Banking and Currency, and National Planning at an investigative hearing on Thursday in Abuja.
According to her, there is a policy on spending Naira in Nigeria and not dollar and it is all in the interest of the country because dollars or Euros can't be everywhere while our currency is nowhere to be found.
He added that the aim is to make Naira acceptable by other West African nations and foreign countries.
His words, “We've a policy on spending Naira in Nigeria and not dollar because of what that does; it affects the value of our currency when we start spending foreign currency in Nigeria.
“That is why we say that money that comes in as dollars or Euros should be exchanged and given to the customers in the currency of our country,”
“If dollar and euro are everywhere, what happens to our currency, the Naira now is not an internationally accepted currency, if we dilute it, it will have implications.
“We want our Naira to be acceptable by other West African countries; we want it to be internationally accepted currency.
“If we've more funds come in as remittances, our foreign reserves goes up, and when that happens, the confidence in Nigerian economy will go up.
“It helped in price stability and exchange rate stability management and that the apex bank was interesting in increasing Diaspora remittances.”
“If the World Bank says 25 million dollars for 2019; their formula for calculating is based on cash, kind and trend analysis.
“What the CBN counts is the physical cash that comes in through the banks and International Money Transfer Operators.”