Nigerians Abroad Remitted N9trn In 2018, Highest In 13 Years

Mr Ejump

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Remittances by Nigerians living abroad provided a boost to the economy in 2018 as the total value of remittance from migrants amounted to $25 billion, (about N9 trillion), the highest diaspora inflow into the country in the last 13 years.

The global accounting giant, PricewaterhouseCopers, PWC, gave this information in a report titled: “Nigeria Economic Outlook: Top 10 Themes for 2019”. They noted that the amount translates to 83 percent of the federal government’s budget in 2018 and 11 times the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) during the same period. The figure represents 6.1 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Nigeria’s migrant remittance inflow was also seven times larger than the net official development assistance (foreign aid) of $3.359 billion received in 2017. The Report showed that remittance by Nigerians in diaspora rose steadily in the last 13 years and peaked last year in 2018 by 71.3 percent from $14.640 billion in 2005, while also outpacing FDI inflow by huge 1,036 percent.

Conversely, FDI inflow into the country, which stood at $2.200 billion within the period (2018), was 1,036 percent slower than the migrant remittance inflow.

Detailed breakdown of the migrant remittance during the 13 year period showed tremendous increase in the last three years, as it grew by 11.79 percent to $22.001 billion in 2017 from $19.679 billion in 2016, before recording another 14 percent growth in 2018 to the current figure. According to the Report, leading countries worldwide by value of remittance outflows comprise the United States of America, Germany, Russia and China.

Andrew S. Nevin, Chief Economist, PWC, said: “Nigeria’s biggest export is not oil; it is actually people, because of the remittances coming in. Election uncertainty coupled with lacklustre execution of policy reforms impact FDI inflow.”

“Global FDI flows fell by 19 percent in 2018. However, 2018 FDI flows to Africa increased by six percent from $38 billion to $40 billion. South Africa grew by 446 percent; Egypt by seven percent. Nigeria, on the other hand, fell by 36 percent (to $2.2 billion) and was overtaken by Ghana with $3.3 billion,” PWC said in the Report.