CBN: TO GENERATE $200 BILLION IN FOREX FROM NON-OIL EXPORTS, MORE COMMODITIES ARE NOW BEING SEIZED.

The United Bank for Africa (UBA) has showed that 200 exporters accounted for 95% of the $4.2 billion Nigeria generated from non-oil exports in 2021. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said its RT200 strategy has started to draw more commodities into the Nigerian export ledger.

The CBN's RT200 FX program intends to generate $200 billion in forex profits from non-oil proceeds over the course of the following three to five years. The Non-Oil Export Proceeds Repatriation Rebate Scheme pillar.

The apex bank highlighted that a record number of companies in the solid mineral market had entered the market as a result of the strategy that encourages export earnings.

The statement was made yesterday in Lagos at the annual workshop of the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) with the theme: “Boosting Domestic Capacity for Sustainable Export Earnings.” The Principal Manager, Trade and Exchange Department, CBN, Mrs. Anne Nnenna Ezekannagha.

In addition, the United Bank for Africa's (UBA) deputy managing director, Mr. Muyiwa Akinyemi, said that only 200 exporters were in charge of 95% of the $4.2 billion in non-oil exports in 2021.

Informal exports, which are mostly in wholesale dealing in select industries including information technology, entertainment, were not included in the $4.2 billion registered in 2021.

“RT200 is a program that the CBN created and is now based on our rebate system,” Ezekannagha stated. Therefore, the goal is to motivate exporters to bring their money home. Many exporters choose not to return their money, and RT200 is to promote the return of non-oil revenues.

We have witnessed both the numbers of exporters who are willing to enter the official numbers that are being repatriated. Since most of our exporting has been done unofficially, we have discovered that a lot more actors in the export sector are prepared to move to the formal sector thanks to this program. Therefore, in addition to the rise in numbers, an increase in the earlier mentioned items that we export. Similar, we have seen an increase in the number of firms in that industry entering the formal sector to declare their exports and take part.

The top 200 non-oil exporters will control over 95% of the $4.2 billion in industry volume in 2021, according to Akinyemi, “Boosting Domestic Capacity for Sustainable Export Earnings- the UBA Perspective.” He continued by saying that in the next three to five years, the federal government expected non-oil foreign exchange earnings to reach $200 billion.

Additionally, he stated that “main non-oil export goods like cocoa, cashew, sesame seeds, hibiscus, fertilisers/chemicals, tobacco, hides and skin accounted for 85% of total export.”

According to Akinyemi, the UBA “facilitated $1.34 billion (31%) in non-oil export volume in 2021,” an accomplishment that solidified the UBA's position as the top export bank in Nigeria for the past three years.

The Managing Director of the Fidelity Bank, Mrs. Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, advised Nigerian commodity exporters to transition to the export of value-added processed to earn more foreign currency and enhance Nigeria's trade balance in her keynote address during the workshop.

She said, Exports of raw cashew nuts go to Vietnam, where they are given more value before being exported again. 2020 saw Vietnam buy raw cashew nuts worth $1.5 billion from Africa, add value to them, and export processed kernels worth $3 billion. If this value addition had been performed in Africa, we could have created $1.5 billion more in jobs and tax income.

Onyeali-Ikpe, who was represented by Mr. Isaiah Ndukwe, stated: At three times rise in income, Nigeria can take cashew exports to $600 million (now about $200 million) and cocoa exports to $3 billion per annum in the short to medium term.

“We can move the numbers tenfold if we then double both our crops and our processing facilities.” This is an established tool for sustainable economic development; it is not a re-invention of the wheel. The Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), which includes Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam, followed this same approach to develop their economies into world manufacturing powerhouses.

In a similar vein, Mr. Lamido A. Yuguda, Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), noted that by luring more foreign portfolio and direct investments, the Nigerian capital market had a to play in contributing to sustainable foreign exchange earnings.

The 10-year Nigerian Capital Market Master Plan (2015–2025), according to Yuguda, was developed around four strategic themes, one of which is to “promote competitiveness by establishing practices that improve transparency, efficiency, and liquidity and to attract sustainable interest in the capital market from investors and participants.”