The Central Bank of Nigeria has announced plans to stop the sale of foreign exchange to Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) by the end of the year.
The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, made the disclosure on Thursday at a press briefing on the bank’s new forex repatriation scheme, RT200.
Emefiele stated that banks must begin to source their forex from export proceeds, which brings the need to support non-oil exporters in the country.
He pointed out that the decision was in line with the central bank’s new commitment to boost the country’s foreign reserves through proceeds from non-oil exports.
According to the Governor, RT200 which stands for Race to $200bn is a set of policies, plans and programmes for non-oil exports that will enable the country to generate $200bn in forex repatriation, exclusively from non-oil exports, over the next three to five years.
The governor said the loans would have 10-year tenure, with a two-year moratorium and an interest rate of five per cent.
Similar to the naira for dollar programme, this programme, he said, would also entail a forex rebate scheme where the exporters will be paid N5 for every dollar they put into the economy.
As part of the programme, the apex bank will provide concessionary and long-term loans for businesses interested in expanding existing plants or building new ones for the sole purpose of adding significant value to the non-oil commodities before exporting same.
Meanwhile, the governor also announced that interest rates on its intervention loans which were expected to revert to 9% by March 1, would remain at 5% until March 1, 2023.
