The Central Bank of Nigeria has approved a special forex regime for airlines operating in the country.
In a statement Friday, the apex bank also approved forex regimes for manufacturing companies and Agricultural chemicals.
The bank did not state how much it was willing to sell to clear the backlog in the forex market, but made it clear that all payments would be made in forward settlement.
According to the CBN, “Whereas the bids are on Spot Forex basis as the Authorized Dealers’ accounts with the CBN will be debited in full for the Naira equivalent of the USD bid amount, the CBN will settle the bids through forward settlements of 2 months. Customers that are not willing to accept the settlement terms have been advised not to participate in this Special SMIS – Retail.”
The CBN also added that it would bypass its own directives, as stated in the forex market guidelines.
“Due to the peculiarity of this exercise, the CBN will not apply the relevant provisions under clause 2.4.3 (i) of its Revised Guidelines for the Operation of the Nigerian Inter-bank Foreign Exchange Market (hereinafter referred to as the Guidelines), which provides that “all SMIS bids shall be submitted to the CBN through the FXPDs.” (TV360 Nigeria)