CBN’s latest policy on receipt and administration of diaspora remittances into Nigeria is set to kick off 2nd of December 2020.
The Central Bank of Nigeria has announced that its recent policy on receipt and administration of diaspora remittances into Nigeria is set to kick off tomorrow, December 4, 2020.
This is according to a press release issued by the apex bank today.
The announcement became imperative after consultations and engagements with relevant stakeholders over smooth implementation of the recent policy, which is aimed at providing a more convenient channel for Nigerians in Diaspora to remit funds back to Nigeria.
What they are saying
Commenting on the recent development, the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele said:
“In the course of following up on the implementation of the aforementioned new policies, the CBN observed some pushback by some of the IMTOs, which were bent on undermining the new policies. This was the reason the CBN had to insist on Wednesday, December 2, 2020, that all DMBs must close all Naira General Ledgers through which the Naira remittances were being carried out.
“Following the announcement of these new policy measures, the Central Bank of Nigeria, in an effort to enable smooth implementation, engaged with the commercial banks and the IMTOs to ensure that recipients of remittance inflows are able to receive their funds in the designated foreign currency of their choice.
“As a result of these engagements, which took place with major IMTOs and the DMBs today, Thursday, December 3, 2020, the stakeholders have committed that they would deploy all the necessary tools to ensure that these measures become effective from Friday, December 4, 2020.
“I therefore seize this opportunity to announce to Nigerians both at home and in the diaspora, that the policy of recipients receiving their monies from abroad kicks off on December 4, 2020. All the IT systems of these IMTOs (Western Union, MoneyGram and Ria services) and the DMBs have been properly configured to begin remittance tomorrow, Friday, December 4, 2020.”
What you should know
The recent policy as earlier reported by Nairametrics, requires banks to transfer all diaspora remittances to the domiciliary accounts of the beneficiaries or pay the customers in foreign currency.
- This is in contrast to the previous policy, where inflow through IMTOs such as Western Union was paid to beneficiaries in Naira.
- In lieu of this, the Central Bank of Nigeria had instructed DMBs to close all Naira ledger accounts opened specifically for the purpose of receiving IMTO (foreign transfers from diaspora Nigerians) with immediate effect.
Source: Nairametrics
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