CBN Lists Students, Importers, Others as Beneficiaries of Forex Clearance, Moves to Clear Forex Backlog

• The Central Bank of Nigeria says it will clear the backlog of forex requests in the coming days
• The bank said international students, manufacturers, and importers are eligible for the clearance
• It added that the funds would be channelled to banks via the I&E window in two weeks

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will inject about $10 billion into the Forex Market to clear the backlog of demands.

The acting CBN Governor, Folashodun Shonubi, said the apex bank would work with commercial banks to disburse the Forex.

Businesses, students, importers eligible for Forex clearance

Shonubi stated this on Tuesday, September 5, 2023, and said the banks would be essential in clearing the backlogs since they control about 75% of foreign exchange transactions.

The backlogs concern different layers within the forex market, cutting across businesses, education, and personal needs.

The apex bank chief said the applications would be handled after being stopped due to a decline in Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs), Foreign Portfolio Investments (FPIs), inflows, and international reserves.

Shonubi also mentioned manufacturers and raw material importers as beneficiaries.

According to reports, other applicants are international students for school fees, foreign medical bills, Business Travel Allowance (BTA), and Personal Travel Allowance (PTA).

He said there are many obligations that Nigerian banks have already taken, which have been handled at the maturity date.

CBN has enough forex to handle demands

Shonubi stated that some bank customers still have obligations, and part of the rearrangement with the banks is also to clear the backlog.

“That is something we have been discussing for a while. I expect we will do that within the next one or two weeks,” Shonubi stressed.

He explained that the financial regulator would intervene as the apex bank’s ability to provide forex requests is unaffected, stating that the funds would be channelled via the Importers and Exporters (I&E) window.

Shonubi said:

“There is so much more foreign exchange that people don’t talk about that is being made available through the banking system, and banks are selling to their customers. It doesn’t come to the Central Bank. It doesn’t appear as part of the demand that comes to us. And it is significant. It is almost three times what we as a Central Bank make available.”

The follows CBN’s guidelines to foreign exchange dealers in Nigeria which specified sanctions for defaulters.

The apex bank gave the dealers a timeline to abide by its guidelines or face license revocations for default.

Naira value rises against dollar as CBN partners Access, Zenith, UBA other Banks to clear debts in 2 weeks

Legit.ng reported that the value of the naira recorded a positive performance against the US dollar at the official and unofficial foreign exchange markets on Tuesday, August 5, 2023.

Data from FMDQ securities shows that at the Investors and Exporters window, which is the official market, the naira closed at N744.97/$1 on Tuesday.

This represents a N2.90 or 0.39% appreciation compared to the previous day’s N747.87/$1 exchange rate.

Source: Legit.ng