The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the bankers committee have agreed that banks will grant N500 billion loan yearly, to export-oriented companies that will generate proceeds.
Godwin Emefiele, governor of the CBN, who disclosed this at the weekend after the two-day bankers’ committee retreat in Lagos, said export proceeds will complement what the CBN is doing .
He said this is intended to further stimulate export financing and also encourage export of goods out of the country.
According to him, the large banks will take larger shares and the smaller banks will take smaller shares.
“We are saying we draw the line and that every year, the banks put together, are committed that they will grant export loan facilities to the tune of at least N500 billion which the Central Bank will graduate among the banks,” he said.
“So you can generate export proceeds in an exponential way. That will eventually be high that the export proceeds from the non-oil sources will be high to the point where after some time it relieves the CBN of the pressure that goes to finding dollars to meet the import needs of both the banks and their customers,” Emefiele said.
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The retreat also agreed that in an attempt to boost the volume of export repatriations, there is a need to continue to support our exporters who may need facilities either to bring in equipment with which they can process their goods and make them a high standard that can qualify for export abroad and earn higher value.
The retreat also agreed that in an attempt to boost the volume of export repatriations, there is a need to continue to support exporters who may need facilities either to bring in equipment with which they can process their goods and make them a high standard that can qualify for export abroad and earn higher value.
The bankers’ committee noted tremendous progress made in generating non-oil export revenues in 2022, supported by the RT 200 programme, which started in February 2022.
According to the CBN governor, the six weeks in February and March when the programme started, rebates of N65 were being given to Exporters for proceeds, or repatriation of about $62 million.
“During the second quarter. export proceeds repatriation that earned rebate was about $622 million and the third quarter we saw almost about $850 million of export proceeds that earned rebate,” he said.
Speaking further, he said, “Let us not forget the rebate is only meant for processed goods. So by the time we add both processed and unprocessed goods like cocoa and cashew to the processed goods, we actually ran into almost $1 billion during the third quarter and we are beginning to think that we should be able to continue to ramp up. We are looking hopefully for the fourth quarter, we hope that we should be able to hit over a billion dollars in export proceeds and repatriations that will qualify for a rebate.”
Emefiele recalled that in the course of the year before the commencement of RT200, the Central Bank had actually threatened the banks that they must begin to source their own FX to meet the needs of their customers and not entirely rely on central bank sources.
“But seeing the progress that has been made so far, we are talking about $62 million plus $622 million plus $850 million, we are talking of almost $2 billion so far. We think that with the good progress and on the basis of the progress that we have made so far, the CBN will continue to support the market with foreign exchange, albeit as hard as it may be. We will continue to support the market while the banks themselves continue to ramp up their own sources of non-oil export that can earn FX through repatriation which they can use to fund the needs of their customers, Emefiele said.
