The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), says it has disbursed $61.64 million to foreign airlines through various Deposit Money Banks (DMBs).
Hakama Sidi-Ali, the Acting Director, Corporate Communications on Sunday, said the disbursement is in fulfillment of CBN’s commitment to eliminate the backlog of pending matured foreign exchange in DMBs, stating the initiative was part of CBN’s efforts to reduce its remaining liability to the airlines.
She said that in the past three months, the CBN had also redeemed outstanding forward liabilities of close to $2 billion, adding, “This underscores the CBN’s commitment to the resolution of pending obligations and a functional foreign exchange market.”
“These payments signify CBN’s ongoing efforts to settle all remaining valid forward transactions, to alleviate the current pressure on the country’s exchange rate.
“It is anticipated that this initiative would provide a considerable boost to the Naira against other major world currencies and further increase investor confidence in the Nigerian economy,” she said.
The total trapped fund of foreign airlines in the country is pegged at about $800 million and this has led to the threat by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) that some foreign airlines may be forced to quit the Nigerian markets if nothing is done about the monies, which are majorly from ticket revenue.
The Association said that the Nigerian government is currently holding the highest amount of airline-trapped funds globally.
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