CBN Opens Forex Window For Airlines, Oil Marketers
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced another special market intervention for airline operators, oil marketers, and agricultural businesses.
The CBN made this known in a notice to lenders on Wednesday in Abuja.
The apex bank says it plans to settle the bids through a combination of spot and short-term forward deals, however did not specify the amount of dollars to be sold.
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The bank explained that the latest intervention was to enable them clear a backlog of foreign exchange obligations.
“Authorised dealers’ accounts with the central bank will be debited in full for the naira equivalent of the dollar bid amount on a spot basis,” the bank said in a notice to lenders.
Recall that the International Air Travel Association (IATA) had last year confirmed that $575 million in revenue generated by foreign airlines in the country was trapped in CBN as at March 2016.
IATA’s Area Manager, South West Africa, Dr. Samson Fatokun, said foreign airlines have found it increasingly difficult to repatriate their earnings due to the dollar shortage in the country brought on by the low earnings from crude oil sales.
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Fatokun, however, explained that IATA had been engaging government through the Ministry of Transportation, CBN and the Vice President’s office.
“We are engaging government through the ministry, CBN and Vice President and government is giving the Aviation Ministry the best possible attention the sector deserves. We are addressing the issues and government is giving us support,” Fatokun had said.
