Lagos, Dec. 12, 2022 – Mr Godwin Emefiele, the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has advised Nigerian banks to stop depending on crude oil sources for foreign exchange needs of their customers.
He spoke in Lagos at the weekend at the 2022 Bankers’ Committee Retreat the theme: “Increasing the Productive Base of the Nigerian Economy and Non-Oil Export Revenues.”
Emefiele urged them to think of other ways to source foreign exchange for their customers as the government was facing acute shortage.
“We must, in an attempt to walk towards diversifying the nation’s economy, think about how we are less reliant on crude revenues.
“We are in the business of servicing our customers and servicing customers also entails that they have import needs and they need foreign exchange to conduct their import activities.
“There is a clear shortage of foreign exchange today, but yet as bankers, we must meet the needs of our customers. The market is tight and I know we don’t have a choice; we will have to do something to ensure that this problem is solved,” he said.
Emefiele said that was the reason the Bankers’ committe decided on the retreat as the country had reached “zero or almost zero level compared to about $3 billion monthly that we were getting in 2014.”
He said that the global reaction to the evolving circumstances had escalated the threat of hyperinflation, causing central banks in many countries to react with a sharp and extensive monetary tightening in renewed pursuit of price stability and in most cases even at the expense of growth.
“In view of the widespread food and cost-of-living crisis, we are seeing growing restrictions on food exports as about 23 advanced economies, according to the World Bank, have banned the export of 33 food items.
“Also, the European Union plans to impose energy price caps on Russian supplies, to curtail the energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine.
“It is in view of the need to support the fundamentals of the Nigerian economy, diversify from dependence on oil inflows, and minimise the debilitating pressures in the foreign exchange market that the Central Bank of Nigeria launched the RT200 programme in February 2022.
“This initiative, which is designed to stimulate non-oil exports, with a $200 billion foreign exchange income target in three to five years, has been widely accepted and driven by the institutions that constitute the Bankers’ Committee.
“In order to contribute to national development and economic growth, the Bankers’ Committee must recognise the critical role of the financial system in accelerating the development of the productive base of the economy.
“We must play our productive parts to engender the necessary infrastructure and services that are critical to boosting non-oil exports. The 2022 Bankers’ Committee Retreat provides us with the opportunity to review the progress and impact of the implementation of RT200,” he said. (GBN)
