CBN sells $356m to raw materials sector in October

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, yesterday said it sold $356 million to support importation of raw materials in the month of October.

 This, according to the apex bank, represents 40.9 percent of the total foreign exchange sold during the month estimated at $876 million.

 CBN disclosed this in its data on foreign exchange utilisation for October 2016. The data revealed that the apex bank received granted access to about 7,792 requests for foreign exchange, valued at over $867 million through the inter-bank window to enable them source vital raw materials and spare parts for their respective industries.

 A summary of the Forex utilisation for the month showed that the raw materials sector received the highest allotment, getting access to foreign exchange valued at $355,744,861.05 or 40.99 per cent of the total value of Forex utilization for the month put at $867,834,186.26. It also showed that manufacturing and petroleum industries got access to $91,276,699.30 and $150,815,804.73, respectively.

 Companies and other interests in the agricultural sector got access to $13,714,552.83 for the period, while entities in the aviation sector received $10,313,648.29 for the same period.

 Finished goods and others got allotments of $43,838,044.04 and $10,795,488.92, respectively.

 Invisibles, comprising of school fees, students’ upkeep and medicals, among others, received $191,335,087.10 or 22.05 per cent of the figure.

 Commenting on the data, the Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, CBN, Isaac Okorafor, said the release of the figures underscored the transparency of the bank in Foreign Exchange Management. According to him, the CBN remained committed to its pledge to ease the foreign exchange pressure on manufacturing and agricultural sectors through forward sales under the new flexible Foreign Exchange regime.

 It will be recalled that in the month of September 2016, Manufacturing industries in Nigeria were given access to foreign exchange valued at over $660 million in the inter-bank Market to source raw materials and spare parts for their industries courtesy of the interbank forex market.