The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has halted the sale of dollars to the Nigerian National Petroleum Commission (NNPC) by oil companies, including International Oil Companies (IOCs) that operate within the shores of the country.
The apex bank explained that the move to stop the sale of dollars is in line with its commitment to improving foreign exchange supply to the economy as the impact of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic bites harder on the economy.
While acknowledging that the country’s foreign exchange earnings have been depleted, Governor Godwin Emefiele of the CBN, said the new dollar remittance policy would boost local dollar collections.
Breaking the news during an emergency meeting with bank chief executive officers in Lagos at the weekend, Emefiele spoke of the urgent need to improve dollar supply to the apex bank, which has vowed to meet all dollar obligations to correspondent banks from importers.
Emefiele said, “We are committed to improving forex supply to the CBN, by directing all oil companies -international, and domestic, whether you are in the service industry, or producing, upstream, midstream, downstream, or related companies, to sell their foreign exchange to the CBN and no longer to NNPC, for purposes of funding even import of petroleum products, and also new policy on price modulation.”
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