The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria Mr. Godwin Emefiele said on Tuesday that the Apex bank was working on several fronts to ensure that Nigeria captures a sizeable portion of the African trade in goods and services.
One of the efforts is its partnership with the AFREXIM Bank to improve existing payment system infrastructure, the Pan Africa Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) so as to enable greater intra-regional trade.
“Supporting greater trade within Africa would also require the presence of a viable payment settlement system, he said.
He was speaking at the 2021 Export Seminar organized by Zenith Bank Plc. which held in Lagos.
“In this regard, the CBN is working with key stakeholders in the African continent, particularly the Afrexim Bank to improve the underlying payment infrastructure to support greater intra-regional trade through the Pan-Africa Payment and Settlement System.
Speaking further on the benefits, Emefiele said “This initiative will enable payment in our local currency for goods in other African countries and vice versa, without the need for a third party currency.”
He added that this will reduce the trading costs and improve the convertibility of naira.
While stressing the benefit of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AFCFTA), he said its full implementation will open up a trading window as much as $504bn in goods and $162bn in services. He therefore urged Nigerian manufacturers, businessmen, and tech-savvy youth to take advantage of the huge opportunity.
As a part of the effort of creating enabling support for Nigerian players, the CBN Governor disclosed that the Bank in conjunction with the Nigeria Export-Import Bank (NEXIM) had set up a N500bn non-oil export stimulation facility.
Also, he was optimistic that the repositioning of the Nigerian Commodity Exchange being facilitated by the bank and other stakeholders which hopefully would be completed by mid-year, would pave the way for enhanced trading in that sector.
“Once the exchange become fully operational in the 2nd half of the year, international buyers of raw materials and processed agricultural commodities will be able to enter into forward contracts with domestic suppliers on the exchange.”
Emefiele however used the medium to remind exporters to endeavor to repatriate their export proceeds as demanded by law assuring them that they will have unfettered access to their proceeds. This, he said will improve foreign exchange inflows into the country.