The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), says it has disbursed 61.64 million dollars to foreign airlines through
various Deposit Money Banks (DMBs).

According to a statement issued by its Acting Director, Corporate Communications, Mrs Hakama Sidi-Ali
in Abuja on Sunday, the disbursement is in fulfilment of CBN’s commitment to eliminate the backlog of
pending matured foreign exchange in DMBs.

Sidi-Ali said that the initiative was part of the CBN’s efforts to reduce its remaining liability to the
airlines.

She said that in the past three months, the CBN had also redeemed outstanding forward liabilities of
close to two billion dollars.

Recall that the total trapped fund of foreign airlines in the country is pegged at about 800 million dollars,
which led to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) threatening that some foreign airlines
may be forced to quit the Nigerian markets if nothing is done about the monies, which are majorly from
ticket revenue.

The Association said that the Nigerian government is currently holding the highest amount of airline-
trapped funds globally.