Tony Chukwunyem 
Foreign exchange inflow into the economy fell by 15.1 per cent to $14.62 billion in Q4’22 from $17.22 billion in the preceding quarter, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said. The apex bank, which stated this in its economic report for Q4’22 released yesterday, also disclosed that foreign ex- change outflow from the econ- omy dropped by 10.9 per cent to $8.85 billion in the fourth quarter, compared to the level in Q3’22. The report said: “Foreign exchange inflow into the economy decreased by 15.1 per cent to $14.62 billion, from $17.22 billion in the preceding quarter.
The development was driven by the 14.7 per cent and 15.4 per cent decreased inflow through the CBN and the autonomous sources, re- spectively. “Foreign exchange inflow through the bank at $6.21 bil- lion fell below the $7.28 billion in the preceding quarter. For- eign exchange inflow through autonomous sources de- creased to $8.41 billion, from $9.94 billion in the preceding period. “Similarly, foreign ex- change outflow from the economy decreased by 10.9 per cent to $8.85 billion, rela- tive to the level in the third quarter.
Outflow through the bank at $7.51 billion, de- creased by 12.1 per cent, from $8.54 billion. “Autonomous outflow also fell by 3.6 per cent to $1.34 bil- lion, from $1.39 billion in the preceding quarter. Conse- quently, the economy record- ed a net foreign exchange in- flow of $5.78 billion in 2022Q4, from $7.29 billion in 2022Q3. Similarly, autonomous sourc- es recorded a net inflow of $7.08 billion, from $8.55 bil- lion in 2022Q3. However, a net outflow of $1.30 billion was recorded through the Bank, compared to a net outflow of $1.26 billion in 2022-Q3.”
According to the report, the average turnover at the Investors and Exporters’ (I & E) forex window increased by 11.7 per cent to $0.12 bil- lion, compared to the level in 2022-Q3, reflecting improved liquidity in the segment On money market devel- opments in Q4’22, the report stated: “Activities at the Standing Deposit Facility (SDF) increased, mirroring the increased banking system liquidity.
Also, Other Deposi- tory Corporations (ODCs) took advantage of higher rates triggered by increases in the monetary policy rate. “Total SDF requests in- creased to N669.46 billion from N536.50 billion in the preceding quarter, while aver- age daily requests increased to N10.63 billion from N8.52 billion in the preceding quar- ter. “Activities at the Stand- ing Lending Facility (SLF) also increased, despite the improvement in banking system liquidity within the quarter. Total SLF requests in the quarter totaled N6,989.43 billion, with daily average requests of N110.93 billion, compared to total requests of N3,404.68 billion and daily average requests of N56.74 billion in the preceding quar- ter. The development is not unconnected with the liquid- ity structure of banks.”
