Bitcoin News and Finance
Official Remittances to Nigeria Plummet by Almost 40% in a Year When Crypto Use Surged Skip to main content

Official Remittances to Nigeria Plummet by Almost 40% in a Year When Crypto Use Surged

Official Remittances to Nigeria Plummet by Almost 40% in a Year When Crypto Use Surged

According to the latest data from the World Bank, international money transfers into Nigeria dropped by nearly 40% from $23.8 billion recorded in 2019 to $17.2 billion in the past year. Yet despite this fall, remittances, which account for 4% of the country’s GDP, still remain an important source of foreign exchange for the oil-rich country.

Migrants Shunned Official Channels

As shown by the data, Nigeria has only previously recorded a yearly total remittance inflow of below $20 billion just once since 2011. This occurred in 2016 when a total of $19.7 billion in official remittances flowed into the Nigerian economy. The latest drop, however, makes it only the second time in the past decade when money transfers by Nigerians abroad have declined.

Meanwhile, also coinciding with this latest remittances plunge was the naira depreciation and the ensuing shortages of foreign exchange during that year. This depreciation, in turn, forced many within Nigeria’s expatriate community to shun official remittances channels.

Although the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) did eventually devalue the naira to its current exchange of 1:420. The exchange rate, however, remains below the parallel market exchange rate of 1:480 according to Abokifx data. In addition to directly devaluing the naira, the CBN also directed Nigerian financial institutions to stop servicing the crypto industry. Nevertheless, this CBN’s plan to curtail the use of cryptocurrencies appears to have failed as evidenced by reports of growing peer-to-peer trade volumes.

CBN Strategy to Halt Decline in Remittances

In the meantime, during the same period, the CBN would introduce an incentive scheme to encourage Nigerians abroad to use official channels when sending money home. As previously reported by the Bitcoin.com News, under this scheme Nigerian migrants remitting funds via official corridors would be entitled to an equivalent payment of $0.012 for every dollar sent.

Although Nigerian financial authorities have now declared the incentive scheme a success, it remains to be seen if its extension will help return the value of remittances to levels above $20 billion.

What do you think caused the value of remittances to fall? You can share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Custodial Lightning Network Service Attack Discovered by LN ‘Newbie’ — Hacker Strikes 6 LN Custodians

On September 18, a Redditor posted to the r/bitcoin forum and explained how he discovered a way to “attack [the] lightning Network’s custodial services.” The Reddit account dubbed “Reckless Satoshi” wanted to figure out if a “discrepancy between real routing fees and service’s transaction fee can be exploited for a profit.” The researcher disclosed that he wanted to see how large the damage could be and said “it is bad.” 6 Lightning Network Custodial Services Attacked, Researcher Discloses Findings to Offenders Prior to Public Disclosure A Redditor called Reckless Satoshi published a disclosure post on r/bitcoin this past Saturday and disclosed how he had found a vulnerability with routing fees and some of the Lightning Network’s custodial services. The research attack was done in good faith and after it was complete he disclosed the bugs to the offending services before publishing his findings. Reckless Satoshi used the Lightning Network (LN) attack on six different services incl
Post a Comment
Read more

Axie Infinity Down 40% Since Last Week’s Price High, Protocol Revenue Outshines Competitors

Last week, the game token leveraged within the Axie Infinity gaming universe skyrocketed to all-time highs, while other crypto markets remained extremely lackluster. During the last seven days, Axie Infinity’s platform token has dropped significantly in value shedding more than 12%. Meanwhile, the game platform’s smooth love potion token has slid over 8% over the last 24 hours. Axie Infinity Down More Than 40% Since All-Time High Not too long ago, the axie infinity (AXS) token was a topical conversation because it reached an all-time high on July 15. At the time, AXS managed to capture $28.93 per unit and since then it has shed 12.8% during the last seven days. The axie infinity (AXS) token is used within the blockchain-based game that involves battles between token-based creatures called “Axies.” AXS is used for the game’s governance system as well as other actions within the game. At the time of writing axie infinity (AXS) is exchanging hands for $16.70 per coin. AXS/USD on Ju
Post a Comment
Read more

Play-to-Earn Game From Polker (PKR) Exchange Listing – Endorsed by Akon

The Play-to-Earn NFT based Polker.Game ‘s native token $PKR has been officially listed on the popular centralized exchange BitMart. Polker.game has been in the spotlight recently as Akon, the American R&B superstar and record producer gave his official endorsement of polker stating that the “game is revolutionary” and that Polker is “hands down.. the best play to earn, NFT game in the space.”. With the BitMart listing and celebrity endorsement from Akon, Polker is perfectly positioned to become a major player in the Play-to-Earn league. Watch Akon’s Video Here What is Play-to-Earn? Although not a new concept, play-to-earn has become a trending term due to the popularity of the NFT game AXIE infinity. In the past, previous play-to-earn games have also achieved success – however, thanks to the huge amount of development in the blockchain space in recent years the gaming experience is now massively improved. Play-to-Earn games are essentially free to play and open to anyone and
Post a Comment
Read more

China to Crack Down on Copyright Infringement Through NFTs

Authorities in China are going after creators of digital collectibles based on other people’s works of art, the use of which was not authorized. The government offensive is part of a campaign to combat online copyright infringement and piracy with the participation of several departments. Regulators in China Move to Strengthen Copyright Supervision of Online Platforms The National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC) has recently launched a campaign against copyright infringement and piracy on the internet, together with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, and the State Internet Information Office of the People’s Republic. A major objective of the initiative is to improve copyright supervision of online businesses by investigating cases involving the sale and distribution of infringing products on short video, live broadcast and e-commerce platforms, and promptly dealing with infringing content, the agency announced in a press r
Post a Comment
Read more
Blogarama - Blog Directory