Central Bank Governor Olayemi Cardoso has said Nigeria is considering issuing diaspora bonds in the United States as part of its strategy to achieve $1 billion in monthly remittance inflows.
The CBN chief made this known in an interview with Reuters on the sidelines of the ongoing IMF/World Bank Autumn Meeting in Washington DC on Thursday.
Cardoso noted that Nigerians abroad are keen to invest and remittances home have already more than doubled since the current government began implementing sweeping reforms last year.
“As a result, diaspora ties could occur in 2025 in the United States, which has the largest concentration of Nigerians abroad.
“They really want to invest…not just economically,” Cardoso said of Nigerians abroad. “Our currency is now very competitive and cheap, so they think there is an opportunity to position their assets and businesses in their home country.”
Under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu, Nigeria has grappled with major economic challenges such as unpaid foreign exchange payments and high fuel subsidies.
Remittance flows rose to $600 million in September from $250 million a month earlier this year, and Cardoso is optimistic about reaching his ambitious goal of $1 billion a month.
He further highlighted the positive outlook for remittance inflows as Nigeria seeks to strengthen ties with the diaspora, adding: “I would be surprised if we are not there by this time next year.”
On August 15th, the federal government issued its first-ever dollar-denominated domestic bond, opening subscriptions to interested investors starting August 20th at prices starting at $1,000 per unit.
Finance Minister Wale Edun, also in Washington, D.C., told investors on Wednesday that $500 million in domestic bonds were oversubscribed, raising more than $900 million with an oversubscription rate of more than 180 percent.
Mr. Edun said the successful capital raise demonstrated investors’ continued confidence in Nigeria’s economic stability and growth prospects.
“The IMF recommended against issuing dollar bonds domestically. We continued and even though we exceeded our capacity by 100 percent, we still respected their point of view and took it into account,” he said. .
