…Disburses $2.83bn to critical sectors

By Omodele Adigun

To prevent the recurrence of errors in foreign exchange (forex) returns from the banks, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has mandated all Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) to render their returns in a uniform format by converting all forex sales and purchases to NGN/USD just as it denied that the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, was queried by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.

In statement by its Acting Director of Corporate Communications, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, on Thursday, the apex bank urged all stakeholders to always verify information on matters relating to the bank before going public in order not to trigger volatility in the market.

Okorafor explained that, “while it is perfectly normal for any agency of government to seek clarifications on any matter from other agencies of government, neither the Governor of the CBN nor the Director, Legal Services Department, has received any communication with regard to the issue.”

Meanwhile, the bank said it has disbursed the sum of $2.83 billion for utilization in the critical sectors of the economy between December 2016 and January 2017.

According to its Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, manufacturing, raw material and agriculture were among the top areas targeted to boost employment generation and wealth creating sectors of the economy. Recall that $609 million and $228 million were released for raw materials in the months December and January respectively while manufacturing also attracted the sum $53 million and $71 million respectively during the same period.

The foreign exchange utilization figure indicates that $1.839 billion and $0.989 billion respectively were extended to critical sectors like manufacturing, agriculture, petroleum products and airlines among others in December 2016 and January 2017.

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Commenting further on the development, Okorafor, said the apex bank would continue to ease the foreign exchange pressure on critical sectors.

Last November, CBN supported critical sectors with over $1,070,175,392.04 equivalent of foreign exchange for agricultural machinery, industrial raw materials, education and personal travel allowances to source industrial raw materials and spare-parts through the interbank foreign market.

The statement states that, “the CBN, as a responsible and responsive arm of government, will always provide clarifications on any matter within its purview for the purpose of educating and enlightening all concerned.

“Following observations of different exchange rates after the last publication on our website, we called for explanations from the banks concerned. Consequently, to prevent any such occurrence in the future, the CBN has directed all DMBs to render their returns in a uniform format converting all forex sales and purchases to NGN/USD. All third currency transactions are also to be converted to NGN/USD.”

The statement read in part: “Accordingly, we wish to reiterate our position by making the following clarifications; the CBN does not deal directly with any bank customer on foreign exchange transactions. Such transactions are consummated strictly between the customers and their respective DMBs; the figures of forex sale published in national dailies or on CBN website, over which insinuations are being formed, were transactions consummated between the DMBs and their customers; pursuant to our policy of transparency, we publish the reports of purchases and sales of forex between the DMBs and their customers, as submitted by the banks without editing. This practice of publishing the figures on our website has been on since October 2016; following observations of different exchange rates after the last publication on our website, we called for explanations from the banks concerned.

“In response to our queries to them, apart from some observed formatting errors, the concerned banks reported that the returns were sent on the basis which the transactions were conducted. The transactions concerned were consummated in third currencies such as Japanese Yen and South African Rand (YEN/ZAR); JPY/NGN, EUR/USD, USD/ZAR. As a result, there is no way any DMB or the CBN will deal in forex transaction at the rate of 61kobo/USD, N18/US$1 or N3/US$1, as was erroneously reported.

“The aforementioned are third currency transactions and when properly translated, will be in line with the prevailing forex rate range in the interbank market.”