The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has revealed that it would stop the sale of foreign exchange to Deposit Money Banks by the end of the year.
According to the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, banks must begin to source their forex from export proceeds, hence the need to support non-oil exporters in the country.
He pointed out that the decision was in line with the apex bank’s new commitment to boost the country’s foreign reserves through proceeds from non-oil exports.
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.
RT200 which stands for Race to $200bn, is a set of policies, plans and programmes for non-oil exports that would enable the country to generate $200 billion in forex repatriation, exclusively from non-oil exports, over the next 3 – 5 years, said the apex bank chief.
“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.
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.
“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 said.
In recognition of the perennial problems of port congestion cited by exporters as a major impediment to improved operations and foreign exchange earnings, Emefiele noted that the CBN planned to establish a dedicated non-oil export terminal.
