The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said the economy gained a total forex inflow of $35.44 billion as at June 2012, compared with $28.85billion at the end of June the previous year.
Nigerian daily, BusinessDay reports the apex bank made the disclosure on Thursday, in its first half 2012 Economic Report posted on its website.
According to the regulator, the increase came on the back of a corresponding rise in crude oil receipts and autonomous inflows. However, forex outflow reduced compared with performance in the previous year within the same period.
“The exchange rate was relatively stable during the first half of 2012. The demand pressure moderated at the forex market owing to the intervention by the bank and the increased supplies from autonomous sources,” it explained.
The report also showed that total federally-collected revenue (gross), at 5.577 trillion naira ($35 billion) in the first half of the year, was 15.1 and 17.2 per cent higher than both the proportionate budget estimate for fiscal 2012 and the actual revenue in the corresponding period of 2011, respectively.
Oil revenue also contributed 78.1 percent and non-oil revenue accounted for the balance during the period under review.
The central bank said in the report that its monetary policy focus in the first half of the year remained the maintenance of price and monetary stability through liquidity management, prompting the bank to take necessary steps to sustain financial sector stability and banking soundness.
“Monetary targeting was, in principle, the main framework for monetary management, although actual implementation of monetary policy was generally eclectic with focus on both quantity and price variables guide monetary policy decision,” it stated.
According to the economic report, the increased use of electronic channels for financial transactions effected a decrease in conventional channels. By the end of June 2012, the volume and value of cleared cheques decreased by 12.1 and 13.5 percent to 18,154,880 and 10.081 trillion naira ($64 billion), from 20,663,260 and 11.658 trillion naira ($74 billion), respectively, at the end of December 2011.
