The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited and the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) today signed a Commitment Letter and Termsheet for an emergency $3 billion crude oil repayment loan to ensure improved FX earnings by Nigeria from crude oil exports.
The signing ceremony, which took place at Afreximbank’s headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, based on the terms of the loan, will provide some immediate disbursements that will enable the NNPC Ltd. to support the Federal Government in its ongoing fiscal and monetary policy reforms aimed at stabilizing the Naira exchange rate in the FX market.
The disclosure on the pact on the facility is contained in a statement issued by NNPCL on its official Twitter account.
It tersely clarified: “The NNPC Ltd. and AFREXIM bank have jointly signed a commitment letter and Termsheet for an emergency $3 billion crude oil repayment loan.
“The signing, which took place today at the bank’s headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, will provide some immediate disbursement that will enable the NNPC Ltd. to support the Federal Government in its ongoing fiscal and monetary policy reforms aimed at stabilising the exchange rate market”, the company added.
Industry experts believe that the deal is one of the immediate fallouts of the meeting between President Bola Tinubu and the acting Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Folashodun Shonubi, on Monday in which the government threatened to sanction those engaging in underhand undertakings in the FX market, including the parallel market.
According to the apex bank’s governor’s media briefing shortly after the meeting, the President also assured that the government would take measures to maintain the current pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) in the country.
According to FX trading information sourced from AbokiFX, an online platform that tracks the exchange rate on the parallel market, early today, the Naira gained exchange rate momentum against the dollar at the parallel market, to trade at N910/$1 compared to N942/$1 it closed at on Tuesday,.
