An initiative Race to $200 billion forex inflows (RT200) by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has recorded its $4.987 billion forex inflows in 2022 which is aimed to boost non-oil exports.
Godwin Emefiele, CBN Governor, disclosed the feat achieved by its RT200 initiative on Tuesday, noted that the amount recorded so far this year, was an increase from the $3.190 billion recorded in 2021.
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Emefiele said this at the second RT200 Bi-annual Non-oil Export Summit in Lagos, with the theme: ‘RT200 Non-Oil Export Program: The Journey So Far.”
This was cheering news coming on the heels of the challenge posed by crude oil theft which hindered oil production in some terminals and affected the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited’s (NNPCL) ability to remit forex to the federation account.
Just last Friday, Emefiele had while speaking in Lagos, disclosed that official forex receipt from crude oil sales into our official reserves had dried up steadily from above $3 billion monthly in 2014, to an absolute zero dollars presently.
However, the country’s daily oil production output has increased recently as Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited (SPDC) resumed crude oil exports at the Forcados Oil Terminal. Owing to this, there was renewed hope as the country’s oil production recently rose above the one million mark for the first time since July 2022, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) had disclosed in its latest crude oil and condensate production data for October 2022.
According to Emefiele, a total of N81 billion has so far be given out as incentives to exporters of non-oil products under the programme this year.
He also said the CBN was working to improve forex supply for businesses in the country.
Emefiele stated:
In 2022, a total of $4.987 billion have been repatriated into the country by non-oil exporters, higher than $3.190 billion repatriated in 2021. Of this amount only $1.966 billion qualified for the rebate program, but only $1.559 billion was sold at the I & E window or for own use.
The CBN has also paid out about N81 billion in rebate to hard-working Nigerian exporters. This is a testament to the resolve of the CBN to ensure quick acceleration of the export value chain in the country. I know that there have been calls to make all exporters eligible for the rebate, and not just limiting it to finished and semi-finished products.
While we see some justification for this, one of the goals of the RT200 program is to help quicken the process of industrialisation and encourage exporters to earn more from their export business. Economists have well-documented positive relationship between export and industrialisation.
