The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed banks to lend at least N500 billion to non-oil export-oriented companies annually to boost the productive sector and support dollar inflows to the economy.
CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele disclosed this on Saturday at the end of the 13th Bankers’ Committee retreat in Lagos.
He said the lending plan to support non-oil exporters will require the big banks taking a larger chunk of the loan plans, and lending more to the sub-sector as part of their support for the business segment.
He called for continuous support to exporters who may need facilities to bring improvements to the way they can process their goods and make them high-standard products qualified for export due to their higher value.
“The Bankers’ Committee decided that every year, the entire banking industry must grant at least N500 billion in loans to export-oriented companies that will generate measurable export receipts to complement whatever the CBN is able to come up with. The big banks will have to take a bigger and bigger share of this pie,” he stated.
Emefiele also disclosed that the CBN will continue to sell dollars to banks to enable them to support non-oil export businesses. He spoke following an earlier threat by the regulator to suspend dollar sales to banks by this year’s end.
Emefiele said banks would continue to get dollar allocations because they have shown good faith in supporting non-oil export businesses as seen in over $2 billion in earnings from the non-oil exports in the third quarter of this year.
He encouraged banks to also begin to source their own forex to meet the needs of their customers and not entirely rely on central bank sources.
“The banks have made good progress in supporting non-oil export businesses with almost $2 billion realized from the sector in the third quarter. So far, we think that the banks have made good progress and on the basis of the progress they have made so far, the CBN will continue to support the market with foreign exchange, albeit as hard as it may be. The banks themselves are expected to ramp up their own sources of non-oil export to earn dollars through forex repatriation which they can use to fund their customers’ businesses,” he said.
Emefiele also disclosed plans to collaborate with some state governments to tackle port congestion and make the export of goods seamless. He said the Lagos Lekki Port is going through pre-commissioning processes which will help exporters.
According to Emefiele, the interest of the Bankers’ Committee is to see that more goods produced locally are exported to earn forex for the economy, thereby reducing the burden of having to provide forex for businesses by the apex bank.
“Our interest here is that they conduct their export activity in a very seamless manner. So that at the end of the day, those export proceeds can be repatriated, then for the good of the country. That will enable them to relieve the Central Bank of the burden of providing forex for businesses,” he said.
He said there had been a dearth of dollar receipts from crude oil but the CBN has the responsibility to make sure that the needs of customers are met. “There is a need for us to diversify our export revenue base instead of relying solely on crude revenues,” he said.
Emefiele also said the N15 trillion Infrastructure Corporation of Nigeria Limited (InfraCorp) will begin a road project from Lekki to Ondo to facilitate the transportation of goods from Lekki Ports to other parts of the country.
The CBN, the Africa Finance Corporation, and the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority are the promoters of InfraCorp.
He said that InfraCorp is already engaging the state governments of Lagos, Ondo, and Ogun on how it can have a passage and develop the project proposal that will enjoy their support.
Emefiele said the road would be the standard road that will enable easy movement of goods through the ports to the cities.
He said the banks will, in the New Year, begin to plan on how to fund infrastructure that will enable easy passage of goods from different parts of the country to the Lekki Ports.
The Bankers’ Committee also promised to continue to support the creative industry especially as we accelerate the completion of the ongoing project in the National Arts Theatre.
