Fx Shortage: CBN Targets $200bn Non-Oil Export Revenue

… expended over N3 trillion in intervention loans for economic recovery

To redress inadequate foreign exchange in the economy, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced an initiative named, RT200 Programme, to stimulate non-oil exports, with a $200 billion FX income target in the next three to five years.

The CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, announced the initiative at the end of the Bankers’ Committee meeting, in Abuja, this afternoon.

According to him, the CBN, in conjunction with the Money Deposit Banks, is to fund the construction of dedicated non-oil export terminals, to eliminate the delays currently experienced by exporters.

It would also provide loans to companies for value-addition and production of finished goods for export at five percent for a 10-year period, with two years of moratorium.

Other key features of the programme, according to the CBN boss, included Non-Oil Commodities Expansion Facility; Non-Oil FX Rebate Scheme; and Biannual Non-Oil Export Summit.

Rather than exporting raw cocoa, with minimal export proceeds, Mr. Emefiele said that his team would fund companies to produce chocolate in-country.

He said that cashew processing, currently at a mere 5 per cent of the nation’s production, as well as, sesame seeds processing would be prioritised.

Explaining the apex bank moves at stabilising the economy in the face of covid-19 challenges, Emefiele said the CBN, working with the DMBs and participating financial institutions has granted over N3 trillion in intervention loans that have undoubtedly been one of the critical ingredients for the country’s economic recovery and employment generation.

“Specifically, under the Anchor Borrowers Programme, we have disbursed N948 billion to 4,478,381 smallholder farmers who cultivated 5.2 million hectares of farmland across the country, thereby creating 12.5 million direct and indirect jobs.”

“Under our Targeted Credit Facility, which was meant to help households and businesses that suffered significant losses during the pandemic, we have disbursed N368.79 billion to 778,000 beneficiaries comprising 648,052 households, and about 130,000 SMEs. We have also disbursed N1.452 trillion to 337 Large real sector projects in agriculture, manufacturing, services, and mining under our Real Sector Support Facility. In healthcare, 122 major healthcare projects have been funded to the tune of N115.36 billion. These healthcare interventions went to 31 pharmaceutical and 91 hospital projects. This intervention helped to support acquisition of 59 Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanners, 42 Computer Tomography (CT) scanners, and 4 Oncology screening machines.”

“For the AGSMEIS programme, which caters for SMEs in the agribusiness space, a total of N134.63 billion has been released to 37,571 SME projects of which 67 percent were directly in agriculture-related projects, 22.5 percent were in services, while the balance were in fashion, IT, and related sub-sectors. Under the Nigeria Electricity Stabilization Facility, a total of N229 billion has been disbursed to 9 DisCos to help cover their financial obligations to upstream market participants. These interventions have helped to significantly improve liquidity in their ecosystem and increase electricity generation from 4,000 MW in 2020 to over 5,000 MW as of September 2021. The Bank has also released N47.83 billion to 10 DisCos under the National Mass Metering Programme for the procurement of 858,026 electricity meters. Because of these disbursements, the revenue collection for DisCos increased significantly to over N69 billion as of December 2021.”