CBN Approves N20bn Forex Repatriation Rebate For Exporters

The Central Bank of Nigeria has approved the sum of N20bn as rebate to exporters for repatriation of foreign exchange under the Race to $200bn Forex programme.

The CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele said the approval was done on Tuesday morning by the apex bank.

He said with the approval the apex bank will soon begin the disbursement of the rebate to exporters that repatriated foreign exchange into the country.

The programme was unveiled by the CBN to achieve cumulative non-oil exports of $200bn goods within five years.

The programme includes a Non-Oil Exports Proceeds Repatriation Rebate Scheme, which incentivises exporters in the non oil sector to repatriate and sell export proceeds in the official FX market.

Under the scheme, CBN pays rebate of N65 for every dollar repatriated and sold in the Investors & Exporters (I&E) window to authorised dealer banks for third party use.

The CBN also pays rebate of N35 for every dollar repatriated and sold into I&E for own use for eligible transactions only, provided the spread is not more than 10 kobo.

The apex bank also stipulated that payment of the incentives will be quarterly with exporters that qualify credited within one week after the end of the quarter

Speaking on the performance of the Race to $200bn in FX Repatriation programme and the ‘100 for 100’ initiative, Emefiele said both had recorded gains in increasing foreign exchange inflows into the country.

He said, “We are making progress with these initiatives. We are making progress for the ‘100 for 100. I think we have disbursed slightly above N50bn to the ‘100 for 100’ which is meant to really drive support for those who want to produce goods that can be exported out of the country to earn dollar revenues.

“Indeed, we are delighted that the RT200 is yielding good results. We found out that we had received inflows as at June this year of over $2.9bn. You all know that during the first quarter of 2022, we disbursed N3.6bn as rebates for those who conducted export activities.

“Hence, for Q2 2022, we have this morning just approved the release and payment of rebates those who conducted the export activities to the tune of N20bn.

“This is because whereas we found out that, yes, there has been a lot of exports, but those exports found to be eligible for the rebates were in the tune of over $600m and that is the reason we are paying slightly over N20bn for Q2. We are very happy and delighted that a lot more people are embracing exports in Nigeria.

“We had hinted that at some point, we will get to the point where the banks will not even need to come to the CBN to buy FX to meet important needs of their customers. We are delighted that we are moving gradually in that direction and I am optimistic that these numbers will improve by around the end of the year.”