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Foreign exchange earnings drop by $7.05bn

By on May 2, 2016

The Nigerian economy recorded a decline of $7.95bn in foreign exchange inflows in the last quarter of 2015, figures obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria have revealed.

The CBN said in its economic report for the fourth quarter of 2015 that the foreign exchange inflows dropped from $27.34bn at the end of the third quarter to $20.29bn at the end of the fourth quarter.

It said the foreign exchange earnings of $20.29bn represented a decline of 25.8 per cent and 45.2 per cent below the levels in the third quarter of 2015 and the corresponding period of 2014, respectively.

In terms of outflows, the CBN report said this fell by 21.2 per cent to $8.62bn.

When the outflow of $8.62bn was deducted from the inflow of $20.29bn, the report indicated that the economy was left with a net inflow of $11.68bn in the fourth quarter as against $16.40bn and $22.18bn in the preceding quarter and the corresponding period of 2014, respectively.

The apex bank in the report blamed the development on the decline in receipts from both the CBN and autonomous sources.

For instance, it said oil sector receipts, which accounted for 19.7 per cent of the total foreign exchange inflow, stood at $3.99bn, compared with $6.05bn and $7.64bn recorded in the third quarter of 2015 and the corresponding period of 2014, respectively.

The report read in part, “Provisional data on aggregate foreign exchange inflow through the economy indicated that the total inflow was $20.29bn.

“This represented a decline of 25.8 per cent and 45.2 per cent below the levels in the preceding quarter and the corresponding period of 2014, respectively. The development was driven by the fall in receipts from both the CBN and autonomous sources.

“Oil sector receipts, which accounted for 19.7 per cent of the total, stood at $3.99bn, compared with $6.05bn and $7.64bn, recorded in the preceding quarter and the corresponding period of 2014, respectively.

“Non-oil public sector inflow, at $3.15bn (15.5 per cent of the total), fell by 37.9 per cent below the level in the preceding quarter, but exceeded the level in the corresponding period of 2014 by 4.4 per cent.

“Autonomous inflow, which accounted for 64.8 per cent of the total, fell by 18.9 per cent, compared with the level in the preceding quarter.”

It terms of sectoral utilisation of foreign exchange, the CBN said the invisible sector took about 40.6 per cent of total foreign exchange disbursed in the fourth quarter of 2015.

This was followed by the industrial sector (21.8 per cent), minerals and oil sector (19.7 per cent), manufactured products (9.1 per cent), food products (6.1 per cent), transport sector (1.8 per cent), and agricultural products (0.9 per cent).

 

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