Nigerians' penchant for foreign goods has continued to put pressure on the nation's external reserves and the exchange rate. In the last four months – April to August, a total of $14.95 billion left the shores of Nigeria as payments made by the Central Bank of Nigeria on behalf of the public.
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Of this amount, cash sales to bureau de change where those who purchase foreign exchange in small quantity buy from, amounted to $2.2 billion while letters of credit for direct importation amounted to $157.5 million. Direct remittances were put at $983.7 million and sales to banks through the wholesale dutch auction amounted to $11.5 billion.
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Debt service/payment during the period took the sum of $93.62 million out of the external reserves of the country. Ironically, bureau de change is where the informal sector operators buy foreign exchange.
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The over $2.2 billion from the source went mainly to those who are now having a field day in the importation of either substandard products or contrabands.
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In the week which ended 12th of April 2013, payment made for travels on behalf of Nigerians who travel regularly abroad either for leisure, business trip or medical check up through business and personal travel allowance was $6.9 million.
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Cash sales to bureaux de change in that week was $196 million, while payment made through letters of credit amounted to $13.37 million. Total direct remittance was $202.9 million during that same week. Wholesale Dutch auction took up the sum of $837 million. Debt service had a meager $1.17 million. In that week alone, a total of $1.257 billion went out of the country in the form of payment to foreign nationals.
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The week ended 26th April followed the same pattern with a total of $1.38 billion flowing out of the country for importation and payment for foreign services. In the week ended 21 June, a total of $1.70 billion went out of the nation's treasury as payment for foreign goods and services. The foreign exchange outflow rose to $2.05 billion in the week ended 5th July. The weekly foreign exchange hemorrhage has continued with an average outflow of $1.7 billion since the beginning of the year.