CBN Discontinues RT200 Rebate, Naira4Dollar Schemes

James Emejo in Abuja

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced the cessation of the RT200 Rebate and Naira4Dollar Remittance Schemes, with effect from June 30.

Both initiatives, introduced by the suspended CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, were launched to boost non-oil exports and diaspora remittances to encourage foreign exchange inflows into the economy.

The central bank in a circular on the Operational Changes to the Foreign Exchange Market issued Wednesday and signed by CBN Director, Financial Markets Department, Angela Sere-Ejembi, said further guidance on the policy change would be communicated in due course.

The apex bank also alerted all authorized dealers and public of immediate changes to operations in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange (FX) Market, of the re-introduction of the order based two-way quotes, with bid-ask spread of N1, adding that all transactions shall be cleared by a Central Counter Party (CCP) among other alterations to the operations in the Fx market.

Essentially, the Race to $200 billion in FX Repatriation (RT200FX) initiative was established to stimulate non-oil exports with a $200 billion FX income target in the next three to five years.

The programme allowed for a rebate of N65 for every $1 of repatriated non-oil export proceeds is paid to exporters of semi-finished and finished goods, while exporters of unprocessed items enjoy a rebate of N25/$.

Similarly, the Naira 4 Dollar Scheme was introduced in March 2021 as an incentive for senders and recipients of international money transfers. The policy entailed the payment of N5 for every $1 received as a remittance inflow.

Details later…