about one-third of the world economy is currently in recession due to the
damaging effects of COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing war between
Russia and Ukraine. Emefiele made this known in Abuja on Monday while addressing Foreign
Affairs and Aviation stakeholders at a meeting with the House of
Representatives Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila.
He said CBN was working outside the box to mop up foreign exchange and
strengthen the Naira and by extension the economy through what he called
the RT 200 policy. According to him, the RT 200 is the policy focusing on the repatriation rates
of non-oil exports proceeds into the Nigerian economy, which is almost a
billion dollar in the 3rd quarter of 2022.
outlook today is darkening due to deepening global slowdown.”
He said the global community was facing rising incidents of unemployment,
adding that most of the countries of the world are facing rising inflation.
He said in 2022 alone, the USA happened to raise rates almost by 3.75 per
cent, saying it had created some serious inflation pressures and depreciation
on the currencies of other countries.
“From the CBN since February this year, we introduced the RT 200
programme in order to encourage repatriation of Forex proceeds from
exporters of non-oil export products. We are gratified that the programme is doing well. When we started it, the first six weeks in February and March, we were only able to see repatriation,
we paid rebates on repatriation of about $62 million”.
He said “in the second quarter, we saw an astronomical improvement to $622
million in exports proceeds of non-oil. For the third quarter, we have seen
almost close to a billion dollars,” Emefiele said.
Responding to the issue of $700 million trapped funds of foreign airlines,
Emefiele said $265 million had been earmarked for disbursement to the
foreign airlines through their various banks. The Speaker, however, said the trapped funds of foreign airlines were giving
the House a great course for concern, hence the need for the forum to find
lasting solutions bearing in mind the prevailing economic imperatives.
Gbajabiamila said the principle of reciprocity required that Nigerian carriers
were also allowed to fly Into countries whose airlines had a huge market in
Nigeria.
He appealed to the CBN governor to seek ways of raising Forex for the
airlines, saying that allowing Nigerian Airlines to operate many of the
international routes will reduce the incident of trapped funds in the future.
