…..DMBs to provide N500bn credit to export-oriented firms yearly
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has projected that Nigeria’s non-oil export proceeds for rebates will hit $1 billion by the end of Q4 this year.
The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, made this disclosure while briefing journalists at the end of the 13th annual Bankers Committee’s Retreat with the theme ‘Increasing the productive base of the Nigerian economy and non-oil export revenues’ in Lagos.
The apex bank governor, who highlighted the progress made by the apex bank to generate more non-oil export revenues in 2022, recalled that one of the initiatives of the CBN on export promotion was the RT200 programme, which was launched in February 2022.
He expatiated: ‘During the six weeks in February and March when the programme started, rebates of N65 have given export proceeds repatriation that earned rebate was about $62 million.
“This is not export proceeds that did not earn rebates. Let’s not forget the rebate is only meant for processed goods. So, by the time we add both processed and unprocessed goods like unprocessed cocoa and cashew, 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 in the fourth quarter, which we will be seeing in January, we hope that we should be able to hit over a billion dollars in export proceeds and repatriations that will qualify for the rebate”, the CBN governor added.
Before the introduction of the RT200 programme, recalled that the CBN had told deposit money banks to source for foreign exchange (FX) to meet the needs of their customers and not to solely depend on the CBN as FX source.
According to him, given the achievements recorded by the RT200 programme in terms of the almost $2 billion recorded in FX inflow, the CBN will continue to support the market with foreign exchange, albeit as hard as it may be.
He stressed: “We will continue to support the market while banks themselves continue to ramp up their own sources of non-oil export that can earn foreign exchange through repatriation, which they can use to fund the needs of their customers.’’
On the decision taken during the Bankers Committee’s meeting to aid export-oriented businesses in the country, Emefiele said that the banks agreed to support the enterprises with a minimum annual lending of N500 billion.
Emefiele clarified: “So, the Bankers’ Committee decided that every year and it should be measurable, the entire banking industry must grant at least a minimum of N500 billion in loans to export-oriented companies that will generate measurable export receipts, non-oil export proceeds that will complement what the CBN is doing.’‘
He added that the CBN will come up with modalities where it will insist that bank A should grant a minimum of X amount in export loans and naturally the big banks will have to take a bigger share of this pie.
The CBN’s RT200 FX Programme or ‘Race to US$200 billion in FX Repatriation’, is a set of policies, plans and programmes for non-oil exports designed to enable Nigeria attain a lofty goal of US$200 billion in FX repatriation, exclusively from non-oil exports, over the next 3-5 years.
It would be recalled that the apex bank in February 2022 announced the formal launching of the RT200 FX Programme.
The programme had five key anchors, namely Value-Adding Exports Facility, Non-Oil Commodities Expansion Facility, Non-Oil FX Rebate Scheme, Dedicated Non-Oil Export Terminal and Biannual Non-Oil Export Summit
