Diaspora remittance inflow into Nigeria declined by a consequential 27% to $17.2bn, down from $23.5bn last year.
The steep decline was $4bn more than the projection by the World Bank. The global financial institution had predicted that diaspora remittances to Nigeria would decline by $2bn due to the devastating economic impacts of Covid-19 particularly in countries where the funds originate from.
Conversely, cryptocurrency trade by Nigerians has continued to surge despite the government ban. Is this a coincidence? The Africa Report asks if the remittances really have declined that much, or if much of the transactions evaded official records, having been rerouted through increased cryptocurrency trades.