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Nigeria: $2.5bn study-related Forex outflow induces Naira fall –Emefiele

*Godwin Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, has blamed recent fall of the Naira on the increasing number of Nigerians seeking education overseas, putting pressure on the country’s foreign reserves and the national currency 

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed the increasing number of Nigerians seeking foreign education is responsible for the fall of the national currency Naira.

ConsumerConnect learnt Mr. Godwin Emefiele, Governor of CBN, stated this at the recent 57th Annual Bankers Dinner, organised by the Chartered institute of Bankers Nigeria (CIBN), in Lagos.

Mr. Godwin Emefiele, Governor of CBN

The dinner had the theme, “Radical Responses to Abnormal Episodes: Time for Innovative decision-making” was appropriate and well timed, report said.

The Governor of CBN noted that there was a tremendous increase in visa issuances to Nigerians by the United Kingdom in 2022 alone.

According to him, the number of student visas given to Nigerians by the United Kingdom spiked from a yearly average of about 8,000 visas in 2020 to almost 66,000 in 2022, implying an eight-fold increase amounting to $2.5 billion yearly in study-related Forex outflow to the UK alone.

The CBN Chief also stressed that the move had immensely put pressure on Nigeria’s foreign reserves and the Naira.

Due to this factor and the need to increase Forex earnings, the CBN and the Bankers’ Committee started the RT200 scheme in February 2022, he said.

On headline inflation and consumer price

Emefiele explained that that the steady increase in headline inflation from 15.60 percent January 2022 to 20.77 percent  September this year was consistent with global trends.

He stated: “Food remains the major component of domestic consumer price basket.

“The annualised uptick in headline inflation mirrors the 6.21 percentage points upsurge in food inflation to 23.34 percent in September.

“During this period, core inflation also resumed an upward movement from 13.87 percent in January to 17.60 percent.”

The CBN Governor said: “In addition to harsh global spill overs, exchange rate adjustments and imported inflation; inflation was also driven by local factors such as farmer herder clashes in parts of the food belt region.”

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