$265m to be disbursed to foreign airlines – Emefiele
The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, has said that the sum of $265 million has been earmarked for disbursement to foreign airlines through their various banks.
Emefiele stated this on Monday while speaking at a mediation meeting convened by the speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, between the apex bank, stakeholders in the aviation sector on the $700 million blocked funds of foreign airlines operating in the country.
According to him, $110 million has already been disbursed, while another $120 million will be disbursed to the foreign airlines by the end of October.
The CBN governor implored foreign countries to grant landing permits to Nigerian Airlines to fly their routes so as to reduce the burden of accumulated funds going forward.
He said “Aside from the prioritization of FX we have always accorded airlines, on the 31st of August, you( IATA representative) spoke to me because I have to give you credit for that. That day I made a decision to use our discretion to allocate $265 million to foreign airlines.
“We did $110 million in spot and the rest 60 days forward. On that day we allocated to IATA $32 million through UBA, Qatar Airways got $22.8 million through Standard Chartered, Emirates got $19.6 million through Access Bank, BA got $5.5m through GTB;
‘”Virgin Atlantic got $4.8 million through Zenith and so on. How then can they go about and begin to say they have not received their money?”
The CBN boss added “IATA has the responsibility to get Nigerian airlines to fly on the basis of reciprocity. Everyone is calling on CBN blocked funds and I am doing everything I can to provide dollars for you to repatriate your money. How can you come here and begin to tell us that you were not a party to BASA and for that reason you are not interested in the concept of reciprocity when you know that would benefit your country and our country.”
Emefiele explained that the CBN is working outside the box to mop up foreign exchange and strengthen the Naira and by extension the economy. He noted that to this effect, the apex bank has introduced the RT 200 policy, which is focusing on the repatriation rates of non-oil export proceeds into the Nigerian economy.
According to him, “today more than one-third of the global economy is in recession. The global community is facing rising incidents of unemployment. Indeed most of the countries of the world are facing rising inflation. As a result of this year alone, the USA happens to raise rates almost by 3.75 per cent in 2022 that has created some serious inflation pressures and depreciation on the currencies of other countries.
Credit: The Sun
