The federal government has finally received $2.25 billion out of the $3.3 billion foreign exchange (FX) facility from the African Export–Import Bank (Afreximbank).
The FX inflow has been received by the federal government.
The long-awaited credit support seeks to ameliorate the acute FX shortage in the country which had constrained economic activities and doused investors’ confidence.
Earlier in December, President Bola Tinubu had assured Nigerians of the commitment by his administration to resolve the FX backlogs through injection of funds into the market.
Speaking at the opening of the recent 2023 Bank Directors’ Summit in Abuja, Tinubu had said funding of liquidity in the FX market, even though a short-term solution, remained critical for the economy at the moment.
There were concerns by investors and stakeholders that the government appeared to have reneged on its earlier commitment to inject between $7 billion to $10 billion into the FX market to clear the existing backlogs that impaired investors’ confidence in the economy.
However, Tinubu, who was represented at the summit by Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, had insisted there was ”no reason to feel that the indications that were made earlier had changed”, adding, ”It just takes time.”
He had said the government was doing everything in its power to try to attract funds that would shore up liquidity in the FX segment.
However, yesterday’s receipt of the first tranche of the funding intervention came as a huge relief to the federal government on the one hand and investors on the other hand.
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