Yemisi Izuora
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed that Nigeria’s exporters realised a combined $3.5 billion in two months.
The CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele, on Thursday at the RT200 non-oil export summit in Lagos, organised by the apex bank, attributed the growth the introduction of the RT200 forex initiative.
The foreign exchange repatriation was realised in April 2022, just two months after its launch on February 10, 2022.
On February 25, CBN introduced the RT200 non-oil export proceeds repatriation rebate scheme to incentivize exporters in the non-oil sector to encourage repatriation and sale of export proceeds into the foreign exchange market.
The CBN, explained it became necessary to stabilise and sustain inflows of foreign exchange in order to protect the economy against external shock and forex shortages. The scheme pays N65 for every US$1 repatriated and exchanged at the Investors and Exporters forex window to Authorised Dealer Banks (ADB) for other third-party use.
The apex bank had promised to pay N35 for every US$1 repatriated and sold into I&E Window for own use.
Emefiele, stated that exporters who repatriated the $3.5 billion have received over N3.5 billion in rebates under the scheme, as he urged players in the non-oil space to work together with ADB to ensure improved export operations that will result in foreign exchange inflows into Nigeria.
The main reason the apex bank introduced the rebate scheme was to discourage black-market patronage and stabilise the nation’s forex market by ensuring forex transactions are performed at the apex bank’s regulated rates.
For instance, the Naira was sold at N415.79 for a United States Dollar by the CBN for onward sale to customers at N416.79.
However, black markets across the country are selling dollars between N610 to N610 and buying at N585, against the N415.79 stipulated by the CBN, which necessitated introduction of the the rebate to halt some of the supplies going into the black market and gradually converge the nation’s foreign exchange rate.