Total foreign exchange utilised for the importation of goods (imports) and services (invisibles) between January 2012 and August 2012 have been put at $28.25 billion.
According to the database published by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on its website, this represents? a 5.06 per cent over the $26.85 billion utilised in the first eight months of 2011 or 40.15 per cent below the $47.21 billion utilised in the whole of 2011.
The database which captured sectoral utilisation of foreign exchange as at August 2012, indicated that the bulk of $20.04 billion representing 70.97 per cent was utilised on importation of goods of which importation in the oil sector accounted for $6.21 billion.
On the other hand, importation of services accounted for the bulk $6.04 billion out of the total of $8.2 billion utilised under invisibles.
Meanwhile, foreign exchange inflow and outflow through the CBN in the month of July 2012 was $3.34 billion and $2.93 billion respectively, resulting in a net inflow of $0.41 billion, in contrast to the net outflow of $1.4 billion recorded in June 2012. Relative to the level in the preceding month, inflow rose by 6.0 per cent, but showed a decline of 28.1 per cent below the level in the corresponding period of 2011.
According to the apex bank, the increase in inflow during the review period reflected a 57.3 per cent rise in the receipts from crude oil sales. On the other hand, outflow fell by 36.3 and 23.5 per cent below the levels in the preceding month and the corresponding period of 2011, respectively.
The development relative to the preceding month was attributed to the 38.1 per cent reduction in WDAS utilization. A breakdown of the total WDAS utilisation showed that WDAS sales accounted for the bulk (73.8 per cent) of the total, cash sales to Bureau-de-Change (BDC) operators (15.9 per cent) and WDAS-forward contract (1.7 per cent).
The invisible sector accounted for the bulk of 33.6 per cent of total foreign exchange disbursed in July 2012, followed by minerals and oil sector at 20.7 per cent. Other beneficiary sectors included industrial sector 17.3, food products 12.1 per cent, manufactured product 11.2 per cent, transport 4.7 per cent and agricultural products 0.4 per cent.
Aggregate demand for foreign exchange by authorised dealers under the Wholesale Dutch Auction System (WDAS), Bureau-de-change (BDC) and WDAS-Forward contract was $2.60 billion in July 2012, showing a decline of 22.8 and 27.5 per cent below the levels in the preceding month and the corresponding month of 2011, respectively.
The decline in aggregate demand relative to the preceding month’s level was attributed to the increase in supply of foreign exchange by oil companies at the interbank foreign exchange market during the month under review.
A total of $2.64 billion was sold by the CBN to authorised dealers, reflecting a decrease of 38.8 and 16.6 per cent below the levels in the preceding month and the corresponding period of 2011, respectively.