By Segun James
The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emiefiele, has revealed that the bank recorded an increase of $890 million in non-oil export proceeds in 2022.
Emefiele stated this on the sidelines of the Nigeria International Economic Partnership Forum as part of the activities lined up for the United Nations General Assembly.
Giving a further breakdown of the proceeds, he said in the first quarter of 2022, export repatriation was about $64 million, the second quarter rose to $622 million, third quarter increased to $959 million, adding that projections are that by the quarter, the figures would have increased further.
He regretted that Nigeria is highly dependent on oil revenue proceeds to support its import obligations.
He added that low revenue inflow from oil sales was responsible for the current foreign exchange crises confronting the country.
The development, according to him, had led to the massive depreciation of the naira with an exchange rate of the IE window crashing from N436 to $1.
He said the CBN is addressing the situation with its RT 200 project, which will help boost foreign exchange supply with non-oil export repatriation.
The apex bank’s governor promised that Nigeria is aggressively looking at non-export for foreign exchange proceeds, saying he is certain this would yield the expected results in the months to come.
Emefiele added that Nigeria is a country where the country depends on food, and crude revenues to support other sectors, adding that the country is aggressively looking at non-oil exports.
“Lastly, I’ll just say this, I repeat. Nigeria is an investment haven based on the size of the economy in Africa,” he added
