The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has given exporters who failed to repatriate their proceeds a 90-day moratorium to comply or face a complete ban on banking services in Nigeria.
The Director, Banking Supervision, Mr. Ahmed Abdullahi, disclosed this at the end of the first Bankers’ Committee meeting held in Lagos on Tuesday.
The bankers’ committee is a body comprising chief executive officers of banks in the country and the leadership of the CBN.
Abdullahi said: “There is a provision in the foreign exchange manual that requires all exporters to repatriate the proceeds of their exports.
“A number of exporters don’t, and we are saying an exporter may be banned from accessing banking services in Nigeria.”
Speaking on the same issue, the Chief Executive Officer of Citi Bank, Akinsowon Dawodu, said: “A sort of stricter measure was agreed and a 90-day moratorium was agreed for the backlog to be cleared, after which the CBN will resume its right to punish defaulters.”
The foreign exchange guideline stipulates the repatriation of crude oil proceed, not longer than 90 days, while non-oil export has a grace period of 180 days.
Similarly, the bankers’ committee unanimously agreed to harmonise the sale of foreign exchange at N360 to a dollar by removing the extra commission charged by individual banks.