The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Bankers’ committee have maintained focus on the development of the local manufacturing industry and non-oil sectors, to generate foreign exchange inflows.
The focus is even more germane considering the enormity of the global economic turbulence, as wave after wave of negative shocks continue to ravage many countries,” Godwin Emefiele, governor of the CBN said, at a two day retreat of the bankers committee in Lagos.
In his address at the opening session of the retreat, he said over the years, collaborative programmes and initiatives of the bankers’ committee have delivered tangible contributions to the nation’s economic prosperity.
“Recognising the hindrances of high inflation and foreign exchange shortages on the achievement of our national development goals, the 2022 Retreat is convened to focus on the development of the local manufacturing industry and non-oil sectors, more broadly, and particularly to enhance the sector’s capacity to generate foreign exchange inflows,” he said.
Emefiele was worried that since the last retreat, the expected recovery of the global economy from the Covid-19 shock has been wiped away and replaced by new shocks from the Russian-Ukraine war and the unprecedented stalling of the Chinese economy.
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Aside from the social costs of these, he said in terms of its attendant despair, destruction, and destitution, they heralded new economic challenges as energy crisis, cost-of-living crisis, macroeconomic crisis, and climate crisis continue to ravage the world and undermine policy efforts of nations.
These strong headwinds, he said have retarded growth momentum, worsened global conditions, amplified risks and uncertainties, and dampened global outlook.
Consequently, like many other countries, Nigeria’s GDP growth fell gradually from 5.03 percent in the second quarter (Q2) of 2021 to 3.98 percent in Q4, 2021, 3.54 percent in Q2, 2022 and 2.25 percent in Q3 2022.
It is in view of the need to support the fundamentals of the Nigerian economy, diversify from dependence on oil inflows, and minimize the debilitating pressures in the foreign exchange market that the Central Bank of Nigeria launched the RT200 programme in February 2022, he noted.
“This initiative, which is designed to stimulate non-oil exports with a US$200 billion foreign exchange income target in three to five years, has been widely accepted and driven by the institutions that constitute the Bankers’ Committee,” Emefiele added.
In order to contribute to national development and economic growth,the CBN governor said the Bankers’ Committee must recognise the critical role of the financial system in accelerating the development of the productive base of the economy.
“We must play our productive parts to engender the necessary infrastructure and services that are critical to boos non-oil exports. The 2022 Bankers’ Committee Retreat provides us with the opportunity to review the progress and impact of implementation of RT200. It is equally an occasion to re-examine our support for other government programmes to promote non-oil export and to identify specific implementable actions by the financial system to enhance foreign exchange revenues,” Emefiele said.
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