TheCable

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says exporters of raw and unprocessed items will now enjoy a rebate for every dollar of non-oil export proceeds sold at the importers and exporters (I&E) window.

The I&E window is the official FX rate. The naira currently trades at N461.06/$ at the I&E window.

Godwin Emefiele, CBN governor, spoke on Tuesday in Lagos at the RT200 Non-Oil Export Summit 2023.

The rebate is part of the benefits under the non-oil export proceeds repatriation rebate scheme — a major anchor of the CBN’s RT200 FX programme aimed at attracting $200 billion in foreign exchange earning from non-oil exports proceeds over the next three to five years.

The rebate of N65 for every $1 of repatriated non-oil export proceeds was paid to only exporters of semi-finished and finished goods.

Emefiele, however, said the apex bank would begin to pay rebates to exporters of unprocessed items as part of its efforts to encourage players in the non-oil export sector, especially small exporters.

“The reason why we initially decided that we would only pay a rebate for value-added products was to encourage exporters to move from just exporting crude items,” he said.

“We wanted to create an opportunity to encourage you to set up an arrangement that processes these raw materials and creates job opportunities for our people rather than just exporting raw materials.”

Emefiele said the development would encourage more exporters and further strengthen its efforts aimed at attaining the objectives of the RT200 scheme.

The CBN boss said the rebate for unprocessed items would not be at the same rate paid for semi-finished and processed products.

“We should be able to give out about N30 to N35 to one dollar for unprocessed items as against the rebate of N65 to every dollar enjoyed by exporters of processed products at the importers and exporters (I&E) window,” he said.