Again, CBN Clears $400 million of FX Backlog

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Yemi Cardoso has stated that the apex bank has paid another $400 million of valid FX backlog to those who were genuinely identified.

Mr. Cardoso stated while delivering the communique at the MPC meeting that the bank increased the interest rate from 18.75% to 22.75%- a 400 basis point increase.

According to the Governor, the bank will work to restore the confidence of the public and remains committed to its FX backlog to businesses being owed.

He stated, “In terms of the backlog, we are committed to clearing the backlog of identified and genuine requests that are pending. We are committed to doing that and I can tell you that just today, we paid out $0.4 billion to those that were identified, and we are committed to continuing doing so in one form or the other to those genuinely identified and proven cases.”

The Governor of the CBN upon assumption into office was faced with an FX backlog in the region of $7 billion. However, the Governor stated in an interview that the legitimate FX obligation of the bank stood at over $4 billion of which the bank had cleared around $2.3 billion with up to $2.2 billion remaining.

Also, the Governor stated that around $2.4 billion of FX claims were not valid after the bank instituted a forensic audit of the claims.

The CBN under the leadership of Yemi Cardoso has introduced a series of reforms aimed at restoring confidence in the bank, stabilising the naira and controlling inflation. Part of these reforms include stopping intervention finance that the Governor claimed gulped around N10 trillion in the last administration, introducing clear regulation for BDC, unifying the foreign exchange market and floating the naira.

Although these reforms intended to stabilise the forex market, it has been characterised by significant volatility since the beginning of 2024 with the naira exchanging for about N1800 to the USD at some time.