CBN: No more dollar allocation to banks by 2023

.Announces $200b 3-5 years FX earnings plan 

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Thursday said it will by year-end, stop dollar allocation to banks meant to fund imports.

CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, who broke the news in Abuja, said banks will by the end of this year no be able to source dollars from the regulator for their customers importing products into the country.

Speaking at a special press briefing of the Bankers’ Committee meeting in Abuja,  he said  the real sector operators will be required to generate export proceeds needed to fund their imports and not running to the CBN for dollars.

The CBN Governor, also announced the Bankers’ Committee “RT200 FX Programme”, which stands for the “Race to $200 billion in FX Repatriation” policy.

The RT200 FX Programme, he said is a set of policies, plans and programmes for non-oil exports that will enable Nigeria attain its lofty yet attainable goal of $200 billion in FX repatriation, exclusively from non-oil exports, over the next 3-5 years.

He said the RT200 FX Programme is one of the strategies that can help Nigeria earn more stable and sustainable inflows of foreign exchange.

Emefiele said the RT200 Programme implementation will be supported by 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 to be held in April, 2022.

He explained that RT200 Programme is not intended to be a silver bullet to all our problems in the export segment of the economy.

“Rather it is a first step meant to ensure that the CBN is better able to carry out its mandate in an effective and efficient manner, which guarantees preservation of our scarce commonwealth, and the stability of our national currency, the Naira. It is only by boosting productive and earning capacity of this economy that we can truly preserve the long-term value of our currency, as well as the stability of our exchange rate”.