Henceforth, proceeds from forex transaction would be remitted into the Federation Account for the three tiers of government to share, and reduce budget deficit. This is part of a new agreement reached between the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).
Giving the insights in Abuja on Wednesday, CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele recalled that the bank had been intervening in the nation’s forex market since the beginning of the year which has assisted in stabilizing the market.
Analysts who have been following the serial injection of forex by the apex bank say about $9bn have been used by the CBN as forex interventions in the last 10 months. Though the CBN was silent on revealing the level of profit expected or so far made from the intervention, there are indications that the federation account mat be richer to the tune of over $500m in from of profits from the deal since February.
Emefiele represented by Deputy Governor, Operations, Adebayo Adelabu, during an interactive session with the Joint House Committees on Finance, Appropriation; Aids, Loans & Debt Management and Budget Research on the 2018-2020 Medium Term Expenditure Framework/Fiscal Strategy Paper, in Abuja recently said the official exchange rate of N305/$ and the parallel market’s N360/$ have been stable over the past few months due to the intervention of the CBN in agriculture, solid minerals, manufacturing sectors and petroleum sector which has been yielding positive results.
According to him, the import prohibition policy of the apex bank has attracted investment valued at $10 billion into the country considering the fact that local manufacturing of some of the prohibited items, such as building materials–granite, marble, among others, has started by some companies established across the country.
