Basking in the euphoria of the appreciation recorded by the naira last week, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has restated its commitment to exchange rate stability.

Speaking at the Guaranty Trust Bank Plc’s 2017 non-oil export workshop held in Lagos at the weekend, the Deputy Director Trade and Exchange Department of the CBN, Olu Vincent urged Nigerians to continue to support public policies.

He further stated that measures had been put in place to support businesses in the country, stimulate growth and grow the economy. Olu called on importers to ensure that the country benefits from what they are importing.

He said: “We (CBN) are going to do more to stabilise the value of the naira so that everybody is happy. The present government is trying to ensure that we consume what we produce locally.”

Reacting to an earlier appeal by an exporter for the federal government not to restore the export expansion grant (EEg), Vincent, said there was pressure on federal government to restore the EEG. According to him, although the CBN was against because it was being abused, but the central bank does not have the powers to prosecute.

Vincent said the federal government had disclosed plan to reintroduce the EEG. He assured the exporters that the CBN was committed to supporting their businesses.

The event which was organised by the GTBank brought together some of its key exporters to dialogue on issues affecting trade, forex and export activities, thereby providing sustainable headway for the exporters.

“Last year at the beginning of this crisis, the Governor of the CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele had a meeting with the exporters in Lagos. At the meeting, we discussed issues bothering on remittances, volatility in exchange rate and other issues. “Sadly, there was no sincerity of purpose amongst the people that came for that meeting. But today we can see some level of sincerity and discourse,” Vincent said.

“About 15 years ago, if you were an exporter and you didn’t repatriate your export proceeds based foreign exchange embargo, people started having the feeling that we were killing businesses.

“We decided that for the exporter, there must be Know-Your Customer (KYC) by the bank. The bank must know the account owner. We decided to shift the responsibility to commercial banks who know much of their own to make sure that the business keeps going.

Funds don’t come back to us. There are people that export with the intentions of not bringing back the funds to the country.”

He explained that under the new export regulation, if an exporter exports and doesn’t repatriate export proceed to the bank where the individual transacting business with, the bank would be sanctioned by the CBN, adding that the customer has a responsibility of bringing back the export proceed, therefore in order for the banks to accommodate the penalty from the banks they need to create a pool whereby until you repatriate the export proceeds you will not have access to the money.

Vincent stressed that the bank was supposed to know the customer very, because if the customer doesn’t bring back the export proceed, the bank would be sanctioned, while urging the bank to devise strategies to prevent them from incurring unnecessary loss.

Earlier, the Chief Executive Officer, Fullmark Commodity Limited, one of the leading commodities trading companies in the country, Sriram Venrateswaran advised the federal government not to restore the EEG.

Venrateswaran alleged that the EEG was abused by a lot of exporters in the country when it was operational, saying that a lot of companies that were not in the export business were actually collecting the grant.

This, according to him affected general exporters who could not get full value.

Furthermore, he alleged that most exporters joined the trade because they were getting 30 per cent grant from the federal government.

He however stressed the need for the federal government to fix the country’s infrastructure to stimulate economic activities.

https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2017/02/27/cbn-assures-nigerians-investors-of-exchange-rate-stability/

God Bless Osinbajo

God bless Nigeria

nice one

ok

Observing.

Acting President Osinbajo is really making the right moves. When Buhari was suppose to travel intra country to consolidate every regions and states with love and bring about proper utilization of all the resources God have blessed us with, he was busy traveling inter country. Now what is the result of all his traveling to many countries for many months. It is not easy to be traveling up and down at old age... See the result on his health. Osinbajo will definitely make a better President if eventually the baton is passed to him. In few weeks, his moves brings no panic. We can see some of his efforts on the economy. Well only God knows the best, I don't pray for Buhari's death, but I think he can't continue, so he should handover to a better mind to drive and sail the country to a favorable destination. The pace at which Osinbajo is moving, even if he is not excellent on his performance, his rule won't be a bad one.

God bless Nigeria.

Osinbajo for president 2019 ...

Lawyer of the highest order
Prof Osinbajo is really working
Better than PMB cabals
Buhari get the feedback on the sick bed for long time

I will come back and comment in March.

SamuelAnyawu:
God Bless Osinbajo

Amen

sai osinbanjo

fvckbaba

never again will 9ja vote an illiterate

alright

Idiagbon was the face of Buhari's military government. The failings of that government were blamed on Buhari.

If Osinbajo fails as a temporary face of this government Buhari picks up the blame. Now things are improving a bit, many mischief makers who do not wish Nigeria well are praising only Osinbajo.

Shows that Buhari is hated for his anti corruption stance and a large chunk of Nigerians cannot wait for corruption to return. Thieves!

Na the spirit of his in-law Awolowo dey Prof osinbajo body,

Ride on Osinbajo

989900:
Let's forensic Dangote, since he is the probably one of the largest beneficiary of Forex in this country.

What does "let's forensic dangote" mean?

We shouldn't be happy yet.

IMAO, I think people are not being fair to Kemi and Emefele. When it seems bad, the blame was on them. Now its good, its on Osibanjo.


But what actually happened?

They noticed with the decrease in the foriegn reserve, its hard to invite investors. The crash in the price of oil was a factor too!
Now that the price is appreciating, they waited for the foreign reserve to hit $30bn before floating the market with much dollar, and a new policy to ease the suffering.

It might have being coincidental, but they all deserve credits. CBN, MInistry of Finance and the Presidency.

God Bless Nigeria.

Still observing. Sustainability to the currency appreciation and Street monitoring/compliance to EEG when it is reintroduce is what I will be watching out for in the next couple of months.

modath:



What does "let's forensic dangote" mean?

How much Forex he's has received in support of his ventures outside Nigeria, and how much he repatriates back from his profits back to Nigeria.

#Panama

Is JP Morgan coming back?

If you are in the US or have relatives in the US trying to send money to naija, I will exchange the funds at 400/$, simply deposit into my US bank account and receive instant funding into your Nigerian account. Don't bother with western Union and co, they exchange at 375/$ with fees and the exchange rate drops to around 345/$.

See my contact below.

Now this is what the apex bank should be doing, assuring investors, not telling us that:
"recession is just a word" or
"I don't know when recession would end " or blaming the past administration.
Why did it take them soo long to understand the basics?
Buhari's body odour must have been very toxic. He went away and suddenly everyone is thinking straight.

our Osy is working oooo... I pray that it continues to get berra .

our Osy is working oooo... I pray that it continues to get berra . in fact make bubu remain in London dey take care of imsef.

I pray somebody should not return to this country alive, I am loving this new administration.

Firstcitizen:
Idiagbon was the face of Buhari's military government. The failings of that government was blamed on Buhari.

If Osinbajo fails as a temporary face of this government Buhari picks up the blame. Now things are improving a bit, many mischief makers who do not wish Nigeria well are praising only Osinbajo.

Shows that Buhari is hated for his anti corruption stance and a large chunk of Nigerians cannot wait for corruption to return. Thieves!

Bro, Buhari is hated for many reasons not limited to his anti corruption stance.... It will do u alot good if u could spread u thinking falsity across the line