One hundred and fifty exporters are to share N3.5 billion for bringing in foreign exchange (dollars) into the economy through their activities, it was learnt yesterday.
Fidelity Bank’s Managing Director Mrs. Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, who confirmed the largesse, said the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, has approved the release of the fund to the identified exporters.
Mrs. Onyeali-Ikpe broke the news at a virtual press briefing at the end of the Bankers’ Committee meeting yesterday.
She said: “The CBN governor has ordered the immediate release of rebate totaling N3.5 billion incentive to our various exporters in fulfilment of his promise to raise $200 billion from non-oil export to boost the foreign exchange inflows into the county.
“$60 million have come in, according to the CBN; 150 exporters will benefit at various levels, some under the finished goods, some under the semi-finished goods that qualify for the rebate.
“The initiative is to encourage value addition to the export products of Nigeria specifically, to immediate and intermediate, which are semi-finished products and completely finished products.”
Recently, the CBN introduced the “Race to $200 billion in FX repatriation (RT200 FX)” programme to boost the inflow of stable and sustainable foreign exchange into the market.
The plan is to raise $200 billion in forex earnings over the next three to five years from non-oil proceeds.
According to the programme, the CBN will pay exporters N65 on every $1 repatriated and sold to Authorised Dealer Banks (ADBs) through the Investors & Exporters FX Window for third party use.
The apex bank will also pay N35 for every $1 repatriated and sold into the I & E Window for “own” use on eligible transactions (the spread should not be more than 10 Kobo).
The incentives are scheduled for payment quarterly.
Under the same policy, the CBN boss also “pronounced long term financing of single digit for state governments as incentive to set up export processing zones and terminals.
“The incentive to the governments will be at single digit and they will be long term financing to boost the foreign exchange inflows into the country by ensuring that we ramp up our exports,” the Fidelity Bank boss said.
Shedding light on the incentive to state governments, Mrs. Onyeali-Ikpe noted that only Plateau has completed its port, adding that other states were at different levels of engagement.
She stressed: “This policy is only one month old getting to process export zone is not very easy so we expect that will take a little more time but that option is available to the state governments as an incentive for them to set up export processing zones and terminals that will help the export products to get to wharf very quickly and exported timely.”
The Managing Director of Guaranty Trust Bank, Mrs. Miriam Olusanya, said there have been over 756.000 downloads of the eNaira App, 165,000 consumer wallets and 2,800 merchant wallets.
The advantage of the eNaira she said “is that it is at no cost. One of the things CBN wants to achieve is that it will remain cheaper, subsequently there will be cost but it will still be cheaper compared to other transactional channels”.
She assured users and potential users of the eNaira that “the eNaira is a digital currency that has legal backing; it is also pegged to the naira. So, it is not fluctuating so, it’s at the same rate as the naira”.
The CBN, according to the GTB chief executive said, “has realised the fact that the future of money is digital and has proactively pioneered the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in Africa. Most countries are still in the Research and Development stage while a few are at the pilot stage.
“Moving to Phase II, the plan is to on-board the unbanked using the USSD platform so this will be able to aid financial inclusion. It is cheaper, reliable and always an available payment channel, it’s going to support the digital economy, improve economic activities and in terms of social interventions, it is a very easy method of supporting social intervention to support Nigerians”.
She listed instant settlement; availability of almost 100 per cent; no dispensing errors or reconciliation like other channels as some of the benefits of the eNaira.
Wema Bank Managing Director Ademola Adebise said the Bankers’ Committee reviewed the levels of adoption of the e-payment platform launched last year.
The objective of e-payment platform is to improve financial inclusion. It’s complimentary to other payment platforms like POS terminal, etc. The committee decided to increase the level of awareness for its huge benefits”.
