Lagos, May 9, 2023 – Nigeria has earned over $7.3 billion in foreign exchange repatriated by non-oil exporters in less than one and half years.
The foreign exchange were repatriated by non-oil exporters under the RT200FX initiative of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as at the end of the first quarter of 2023.
The country received $5.6 billion through the programme in 2022 and $1.7 billion in the first quarter of 2023.
Godwin Emefiele, the Governor of the CBN, gave the statistics on Tuesday at the Bi-Annual RT200 Non-Oil Export Summit in Lagos with the themed ‘RT200: Challenges and Prospects to Success’.
The RT200FX programme was an initiative of the CBN to raise $200 billion in foreign exchange earnings from non-oil export proceeds over the next three to five years.
The scheme was launched in February 2022.
The programme was designed as incentive to exporters who sell their products to the Import and Export (I&E) Foreign Exchange Window of the apex bank through a rebate scheme.
Emefiele said the Nigerian situation required the enactment of unconventional and complimentary macroeconomic policy actions.
“Our naira for dollar and RT200 initiatives are all attempts in that direction to drive long run economic development.
“Today I’m happy to note that the RT200 programme has made tremendous progress in export proceeds repatriation since its establishments in February 2022.
“When we started between February and March, because we were taking quarterly number. In February and March, it was only $62m. By the second quarter- April to June, it has risen to $600m. By the third quarter, July to September it had risen to over $900m.
“Available data shows that repatriation due to the programme increased by 40 per cent from $3bn in 2021 to $5.6bn at the end of 2022.
“The momentum for 2023 is equally showing strong number and impressive prospects.
“In the first quarter of 2023, $1.7bn was repatriated to the economy, while about $970m dollars were sold into the I&E Window year to date.
“The balance of the proceeds remain in the export domiciliary accounts of our exports and please note proceeds that are not sold at the I&E Window cannot and will not be eligible for our rebate.”
Emefiele said countries all over the world are turning to foreign exchange repatriation to maintain a healthy reserve and external balance of payment.
“We all know that a nation that continues to consume more than it produces and a nation that imports more than it exports is a nation that is destined to fail.
“In Nigeria, whereas it is compulsion to a little extent, all we do is monitor exporters and when they export, they should use the proceeds for the good of their company and country in general.
“I’m hearing cases of people who are trying to sidetrack the process and all I can do now is to continue to appeal to those of us who export without documentations to please try as much as possible to desist from this practice.
“We will continue to engage customs; we will continue to engage the Nigerian Ports Authority and we will continue to engage the shipping lines or shipping agents to ensure we need to board the incidence of exporting without documentation.
“What you do is that you hurt the export earning potentials of the country when you do this.”
Emefiele said the CBN and the shipping lines had agreed to disclose all export activities without documentation, adding that the bank had threatened to sanction the shipping lines including ‘Post no Debit’ on their accounts.
“We have not done such because we thought they will do things right. But if we do not see the kind of corporation that we expect, I will have to insist that we do what we need to do,” he said. (GBN)
