Months after the sale of Fx to BDC ban, the Central Bank of Nigeria stated that it would discontinue the sale of foreign exchange to Deposit Money Banks by the end of the year.
This was disclosed by the Governor of the Central bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele at the BANKERS’ COMMITTEE PRESS BRIEFING today.
This is coming after CBN outlawed the sale of foreign exchange (forex) to Bureaux De Change (BDC) operators in July 2021.
The CBN governor opined that the BDCs have become somewhat, greedy, by taking abnormal profit, which has further affected the exchange rate of the country.
Yesterday, He stated that banks must begin to source their forex from export revenues, implying that non-oil exporters in the country must be supported.
Emefiele said the decision was in accordance with the central bank’s new commitment to increase the country’s foreign reserves through non-oil export profits.
RT200, or Race to $200 billion, is a set of strategies, plans, and programs for non-oil exports that, according to the apex bank president, will enable the government to produce $200 billion in currency repatriation, only from non-oil exports, over the next 3–5 years.“ 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,” he added.
The program , he said, would include a forex rebate plan in which exporters would be rewarded N5 for every dollar they put into the economy, similar to the naira-for-dollar scheme.
He said, “Today, we are also announcing the introduction of the Non-Oil FX Rebate Scheme: a special local currency rebate scheme for non-oil exporters of semi-finished and finished produce, who show verifiable evidence of exports proceeds repatriation sold directly into the I & E window to boost liquidity in the market,”
Emefiele remarked that the CBN planned to create a specialized non-oil export terminal in acknowledgment of the persistent problems of port congestion recognized by exporters as a major hindrance to enhanced operations and foreign exchange profits.
