Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced plans to stop selling foreign currency (forex) – US dollar, euro, pound sterling, among others – to banks by the end of the year.
The apex bank had put Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) on notice that it will stop selling forex to them by the end of 2022.
While announcing the introduction of what it called The RT200 Programme, the CBN said it was ripe for the banks to source for their forex by funding entrepreneurs with ideas, skills and support to make them responsive and attract foreign currencies to Nigeria.
This was disclosed by CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele at the Bankers’ Committee press briefing on Thursday, saying banks must begin to source their forex from export proceeds.
He made this known at a press briefing on the launch of the bank’s new forex repatriation scheme, RT200, held after the Banker’s Committee meeting on Thursday, in Abuja.
He expressed;
The era is coming to an end when, because your customers need 100million dollars in foreign exchange or 200 million dollars, you now want to pack all the dollars and pass it to CBN to give you dollars. It is coming to an end before or by the end of this year. We will tell them don’t come to the Central Bank for foreign exchange again go and generate your export proceeds.
When those export proceeds come, we will fund them at 5% for you and they will earn rebait. Then you can sell those proceeds to your customers that want 100 million dollars. But to say you will continue to come to the Central Bank to give you dollars, we will stop it.
According to Emefiele, the decision is in line with the CBN’s new commitment to boost the country’s foreign reserves through proceeds from non-oil exports.
He also said;
Nigeria cannot continue to depend on FX earnings to fund its import obligations from revenue coming from earnings from products where we cannot determine both price and quantity.
RT200 which stands for Race to $200bn, is a set of policies, plans and programmes for non-oil exports that would enable the country generate $200 billion in forex repatriation, exclusively from non-oil exports, over the next 3 – 5 years, said the apex bank chief.
Emefiele expressed;
Under the programme, which is to take effect immediately, the apex bank will provide concessionary and long-term loans for business people who are interested in expanding existing plants, or building new ones for the sole purpose of adding significant value to the non-oil commodities before exporting same. These loans will have a tenure of 10 years, with a two-year moratorium and an interest rate of 5 per cent.
Similar to the naira-for-dollar programme, the programme, he said, would also entail a forex rebate scheme where the exporters would be paid N5 for every dollar they put into the economy.
