Nigeria’s Letter of Credit payments for goods importation fell by 57.04% to $391.91 million in the first seven months of 2024, down from $912.35 million during the same period in 2023. The Central Bank of Nigeria’s weekly international payments data revealed a decline of approximately $520.44 million in LC payments for the period.
Accordingly, the highest LC payments in the year so far were recorded in February at $102.59m, followed by July at $79.65m and $58.33m in January
Also, in March, LCs payments stood at $43.53m compared to $269m in the same month in 2023, rose to $54.02m in April 2024 and dropped to $21.48m in May before rising to $32.26m in June.
Meanwhile, the development was blamed on factors like the exit of multinationals, skyrocketing customs duties, and unstable foreign exchange, which hampered Nigeria’s foreign trade in the period under review.
