Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso has revealed that $2.3 billion of the $7 billion foreign exchange (FX) backlog owed to banks, aviation, and other entities is deemed invalid.
Cardoso disclosed this in a recent interview with Arise Television, emphasising that bank had successfully cleared $2.3 billion, leaving only $2.2 billion outstanding from the valid $4.5 billion FX backlog.
The governor expressed surprise at the findings, stating, “The result that came out of this was startling in a great respect; it was quite startling. We discovered that of the roughly $7 billion, about $2.4 had issues, which we believed had no business being there – and the infractions from that range from so many things.
For example, not having valid import documents and, in some cases, even entities that did not exist and, in some cases, beneficiaries and account parties that asked for FX and got more than they asked for.
“And those who didn’t even ask for any and got. So, there were a whole load of infractions there, which I said amounted to about $2.4 billion out of the $7 billion headline figure,” he added.
Recall, Central Bank of Nigeria released $500 million to clear part of the forex backlog. Additionally, approximately $2 billion was injected to settle outstanding commitments across the manufacturing, aviation, and petroleum sectors.
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It is worth noting that the International Air Transport Association had threatened to expel Nigeria in December of the previous year over a $790 million trapped fund.
Despite a turbulent week, the Naira marginally appreciated to close at N1,435.53 per Dollar last Friday.