How Arik Air, Air France, Others Got $867m in October

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) wednesday published the list of firms that were able to access forex totaling 867,834,186.26, from the interbank market in October.

The return on FX Utilisation published on the CBN website yesterday showed that it met about 7,792 requests for FX.

Some of the companies that benefitted included Arik Air, Air France , Elephant Group, Flour Mills, HarvestField Industries Limited, Consolidated Hallmark Insurance, Mouka Limited, Parceo Enterprises Limited, Chi Limited, Steel Blue Limited and Nigeria Pipes Limited.

Other firms that were able to purchase FX in the month under review included De United Foods Limited, Tata Africa Limited, Crownstar Limited, Vitafoam Limited, Seven Up Bottling Company, Glaxosmithkline Export Limited, Unilever Nigeria Plc, Ok Foods Limited, World Wide Commercial Ventures Limited, Nestle Nigeria Plc, Promasidor, Indorama Petrochemical Nigeria Limited, British American Tobacco, and several others.

The month also recorded FX purchases for capital repatriation by Stanbic Nominees-Bank of New York, Stanbic Nominees-JP Morgan, Stanbic Nominees -BNL Paribas and Stanbic Nominees-Northern Trust.

A summary of the FX Utilisation for the month of October 2016 indicated that the raw materials sector received the highest allotment, as it got access to FX valued at $355,744,861.05 or 40.99 per cent of the total value of FX utilisation for the month under review. The 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. In addition, invisibles, comprising of school fees, students’ upkeep and medicals, among others, received $191,335,087.10 or 22.05 per cent of the figure.

The Director, Corporate Communications Department, CBN, Isaac Okorafor, said the release of the figures underscored the transparency of the bank in foreign exchange management.

by Obinna Chima/Thisday