Fidelity Bank Plc has pledged to support the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN’s) goal of achieving the $200 billion foreign exchange repatriation policy in the next five years.
The executive director, northern businesses at Fidelity Bank, Mr. Hassan Imam who stated this in Kano at the bank’s sensitisation programme for exporters and investors on the implementation and opportunities in the new CBN RT200 FX Policy also said the bank would sensitise its customers in emerging opportunities in non-oil exports. Enhance
The workshop was held under the theme ‘Harnessing export business opportunities, CBN RT200 FX programme: Current issues, non-oil exports and implications to business.’
He said the bank would not relent in its efforts to bridge the knowledge gap in the non-oil sector space by facilitating the necessary processes and documentation for the new policy, with the goal of increasing forex repatriation through exportation.
Also speaking, the regional head, northwest 1, Fidelity Bank, Mr. Mannir Ringim re-emphasised the bank’s readiness to support government’s economic imperatives to boost revenue in non-oil sector of the economy.
“As you know Nigeria is currently an import-dependent economy with so much pressure on our currency and the source of revenue as a nation is petrol dollar. So, the initiative of the CBN is to leverage on our non-oil products especially in agriculture like hibiscus flower, cashew nut sesame and many other products for exports.
“Now, Fidelity Bank wants to remain the exporters’ bank of choice not only by providing finance but by helping exporters in bridging the knowledge gap in exporting their commodities.
“We are committed to this initiative to improve our economy, reduce pressure on local currency and provide an enabling environment to grow the non-oil sector to also create massive job opportunities”, Ringim said.
For his part, the head of export and agric businesses at Fidelity Bank, Mr. Isaiah Ndukwe, who spoke on the need for strategic planning in the non-oil sector, said the bank “is well positioned to advance the CBN policy thrust to reduce our over-dependence on oil revenue in the country.”
He stated that the bank was committed to improving the banking system’s competitiveness while focusing on developing exporters’ capability in the fundamentals of local commodity exportation.
Ndukwe emphasised that the new policy will not only reshape exporters’ mindsets, but also infuse value addition on their commodities, allowing them to earn more forex.
He said the theme of the workshop drew inspiration from the policy’s guidelines.
The guidelines involve the provision of a single digit credit facility to exporters, provision of rebates on foreign currency, funding of commodity production and value-addition processes, building terminals and convening of a biannual summit for the review of the implementation of the policy.
Exporters at the sensitisation event expressed satisfaction on the capacity-building initiative as it enabled them to get acquainted with the CBN policy and opportunities in export business.
Recall that the CBN had unveiled the RT200 FX Programme on February 10, 2022, as part of measures to reduce the increasing demand for foreign currency by importers, which frequently puts excessive pressure on the exchange rate.
With the implementation of the policy, the CBN stated that the supply of foreign currency to commercial banks will cease by the end of 2022, while investors will be able to generate forex through the RT200 FX Program template provided to strengthen commodity exports.
