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2007 (CBN, 2007b), as shown in Table 14. Owing to a different methodology, the
remittance figures reported by the World Bank are lower; nevertheless, they also
show an increase in recent years. From 2000 to 2008, remittances increased from
USD 1,392 million to USD 9,980 million. In 2009, owing to the financial crisis,
this trend was reversed and remittances dropped to USD 9,585 million. In 2008,
according to the World Bank, remittances constituted 4.7 per cent of GDP, down
from 6.7 per cent in 2007 (see Table 28 in the annex). The outflow of monetary
transfers from Nigeria is also increasing and rose from USD 0.6 million in 2001 to
USD 103 million in 2008, although this represents a very small part of the overall
economy, at just 0.1 per cent in 2007 (World Bank, 2009).
The phenomenal growth in the inflow of remittances has been attributed
to the renewed confidence of the Nigerian diaspora in the economic reforms,
and the increasing investment opportunities in the stock and bond markets and
the mortgage sector.
The current trend of high remittance inflow worldwide (at least up to
2008) has increased the prominence of remittances and prompted the review
of the International Monetary Fund’s fifth edition of the Balance of Payments
Manual (BPM5) definition. Consequently, in BPM6, remittances cover all funds
remitted independently of migrants’ sources of income, the income of crossborder
workers, money transferred by seasonal workers and other workers who
have stayed for less than a year in a host country, and transfers to and from
non-profit institutions serving households. Meanwhile, the figures presented
in Table 28 show that the inward remittance flows comprise mainly workers’
remittances, with very low figures for outward remittance flows (World Bank,
2009).
Means of transfer and percentage of distribution by destination country,
sex and age
In a preliminary study conducted by the Central Bank of Nigeria in 2007,
both formal and informal means are used to remit cash, goods and services. The
official, formal means of remitting money is through banks and transfers. The
mode of transfer for the latter may be through human couriers and/or organized
informal channels. It is thought that the majority of remittances are transferred
through informal means, judging from the various ways in which the remittances
in kind flow into the country (CBN, 2007a).
Also, the United States topped the list of countries of origin of formal
remittances, followed by the United Kingdom, Italy, Canada, Spain, France,
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