The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, has projected that the commencement of operations of the Dangote Refinery had the potential of saving Nigeria over $25 billion in foreign exchange (FX) in energy imports and provide $10 billion as exports.
Emefiele, who made this forecast on Monday during the commissioning of the refinery by President Muhammadu Buhari in Lagos, said that the commencement of the refinery’s operations would immeasurably benefit the economy, including creating over 135,000 jobs, 12MW of electricity and by implication, improve the nation’s fiscal efficiency.
The foremost banker said: “Thirty percent of Nigeria’s FX requirements went to fuel imports, it is instructive to note, that according to balance of payments it doubled from 8.4$ billion in 2017 to $23.3 billion at end of 2022,
“Average annual costs of petroleum imports could breached $30 billion by 2027, if we continue to rely on imports
“The refinery will serve over $25 billion in foreign exchange savings, and benefit an extra $10 billion through exports of refined products”, the apex bank governor added.
He noted that in 2017, costs of the refinery rose from $9 billion to $18.5 billion with 50% equity investment by Dangote Group while the deposit money banks (DMBs) financed part of the project’s costs.
Emefiele disclosed that the CBN also partnered to ensure successful completion of the project with over N125 billion for domestic currency requirements, and availability to FX to pay for imports needed.
According to him, the Dangote Group has offset some part of the commercial loans before the commissioning of the project on Monday, with the total loans outstanding dropping from over $4 billion to $2.7 billion.
The CBN Governor further clarified: “Today history is being rewritten for Nigeria’s trajectory for greater growth and prosperity, alongside the petrochemical plant.
“The unwavering commitment in completing the project, notwithstanding various challenges, exemplifies efforts to build a more productive economy.
“This complex comprises a refinery, a petro-chemical plant, and a urea fertiliser project, capacity to produce 3 million MT of urea annually, its flagship project, the refinery to produce 650 thousand barrels per day, is the largest single train in the run, including processing capacity, more than able to meet all of Nigeria’s domestic consumption and generate export revenue”, Emefiele added.
