The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has called for the
repatriation of foreign exchange (FX) earnings through official channels to
ease the pressure on the naira.
Egboagwu Ezulu, CBN deputy director, banking services, said
this at the maiden stakeholders’ conference of the Association of Corporate
Affairs Managers of Banks (ACAMB) on Wednesday in Lagos.
Ezulu lamented about the dumping of forex offshore by
importers.
“We are taking FX out of this country and dumping offshore;
when we were told to bring them back. If Nigerians are bringing back FX, we
would not be talking about the challenges of FX. There is a challenge for
individuals and businesses to do the right thing,” Ezulu said.
“That is why the CBN introduced the RT200 to encourage you
to bring back the dollar you are saying is scarce, but in the books of the
banks, we see billions of dollars that have been exported out of the country,
and the OPS is not bringing it back, so how do we finance FX demand?”
Ezulu told the Organised Private Sector (OPS) to take
advantage of the various intervention schemes of the CBN through the Bank of
Industry (BOI), Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN), and commercial banks to
boost their output.
He advised them to approach the two organisations for
single-digit loans.
“When you talk about
financing small businesses, the CBN has done a lot of funding to the sector
alluding to trillions of naira and has established two entities for this
purpose,” the CBN deputy director said.
“Has the manufacturing sector approached the entities for
the funds available rather than emphasising the commercial banks?
“The manufacturing sector should put pressure on the Bank of
Industry and Development Bank of Nigeria to source funds, and when we see a lot
of pressure from those two entities, the CBN instead of going through
commercial banks would push those funds to those two entities rather than going
to the commercial banks who would give double-digit loans.
“I want to appeal that industrialists, as well as small
businesses, should approach those two entities to get funding.”
On his part, Rasheed Bolarinwa, ACAMD president, said the
banking sector and the OPS were the main drivers of the nation’s economy.
He, however, explained that mutual misunderstanding exists
between the two sectors, and all efforts to streamline the perceived gap have
not been successful.
“One galvanises the credit from the surplus side and
redistributes to the deficit size. The other operates principally from the
productive side, creating wealth and values. Thus, the two sectors are like two
sides of a coin,” he said.
“They are co-joined and must function together in an
economic sense. So, there is nexus; a link between the two at all time if any
economy is to develop and grow.”
On Wednesday, the local currency exchanged for N429/$ at the
official side of the market. At the black market, it closed at N660/$ as many
believe the market is the true reflection of the currency.
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