The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says it has disbursed $2.83 billion for utilization in the critical sectors of the economy between December 2016 and January 2017.
A press release by the Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department of the CBN, Isaac Okorafor stated that manufacturing, industrial raw material and agriculture among others topped these disbursements targeted at employment generating and wealth creating sectors of the economy.
A breakdown of the disbursement shows that, “the sum of $609 million and $228 million were released for raw materials in the months December and January respectively while manufacturing also attracted the sum $53 million and $71 million respectively during the same period.”
The foreign exchange utilization figures indicate that the sums of $1.839 billion and $0.989 billion respectively were extended to critical sectors like manufacturing, agriculture, petroleum products and airlines among others in December 2016 and January 2017.
Commenting further on the development, Okorafor, stressed the determination of the Bank to continue to ease the foreign exchange pressure on critical sectors.
It will be recalled that the CBN in the month of November 2016, supported critical sectors with $1,070,175,392.04 equivalent of foreign exchange for agricultural machinery, industrial raw materials, education and personal travel allowances to source industrial raw materials and spare-parts through the interbank foreign market.
Copyright Ships & Ports Ltd. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit given to www.shipsandports.com.ng as the source.