Forex

Dangote Refinery’ll Fetch $6bn Forex Yearly —CBN

Published

9 years ago

January 11, 2016

The Central Bank of Nigeria has expressed its readiness to support the refinery, fertiliser and petrochemical complex being built by Dangote Industries Limited in Lagos by providing foreign exchange for the importation of equipment.

The central bank said the project, when completed, would fetch the country about $6bn in foreign exchange yearly through the export of products from the plants.

The refinery, which has crude processing capacity of 650,000 barrels per day, is expected to come on stream by mid-2018, with major products such as petrol, high speed diesel and Jet A1, while the fertiliser plant is expected to start production next year.

Most of the refinery process units have been designed by M/S UOP as a managing licensor, while the balance process units are being designed by M/S Jacobs, Dupont/MECS, Ineos and Air Liquide, the company said.

The Governor, CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, who spoke during a tour of the project site on Sunday, said, “About two and a half to three years ago, Alhaji Aliko Dangote actually came to the banks. At that time, I was an operator, and he said he wanted to go into fertiliser, petrochemical as well as refinery business.

“We started with the fertiliser side of it; but today, these three projects are costing them about $14bn (N2.8tn), out of which he is contributing 50 per cent. I have come here to see so that I can also tell Nigerians that we need to give support to people like Aliko Dangote for what they are doing for Nigeria. This is a time when we are talking about diversifying our economy away from oil.”

Noting that the plants would produce ammonia, urea, propylene, polypropylene and other petroleum products, Emefiele said, “These are products that we today import into the country. If we calculate how much the country spends on the importation of these products into Nigeria, consuming foreign exchange, this stands at close to 35 to 40 per cent of our import needs.

“We expect that by the time these projects are completed, they will not only meet our domestic needs, Dangote will be exporting these products to the point where he will be selling foreign exchange to Nigerians and the Central Bank of Nigeria to the tune of almost about $6bn a year.

“That is the kind of projects that we think we should support, and we think we need to encourage more Nigerians to begin to think like Aliko Dangote. If you have somebody who has contemplated a project of $14bn and he is contributing 50 per cent as equity into that project, we have to give him foreign exchange to import the equipment. We need to support companies like this.

Emefiele said before he became the CBN governor, Dangote had come with a bill of almost $4bn for the importation of the equipment.

According to him, the CBN told Dangote to commit to the importation of the equipment and that the bank would stagger the repayment and offer its support by providing foreign exchange.

He added, “And that is what we are doing and that is the kind of support we can give to people like this who are contemplating moving Nigeria away from an importer of all these products to an exporter.

“Indeed, we are not even selling $4bn to Aliko Dangote. If he needs naira, we will give him naira at concessionary rates. If he needs dollar to import the equipment, we will do so because he doesn’t need raw materials by the time the projects come on stream.”

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Samed Olukoya

Is the CEO and Founder of Investors King Limited. He is a seasoned foreign exchange research analyst and a published author on Yahoo Finance, Business Insider, Nasdaq, Entrepreneur.com, Investorplace, and other prominent platforms. With over two decades of experience in global financial markets, Olukoya is well-recognized in the industry.

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Naira

Naira Falls to N1,676.90/$1 at Official Market, Slides to N1,708.87/$1 at Alternative Window

Published

10 hours ago

November 5, 2024

Iyanuoluwa Martins

The Naira depreciated at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) by 0.61 percent and sold against the US Dollar at N1,676.90/$1 on Monday, November 4.

At the official market, the domestic currency recorded a N10.18 drop versus N1,666.72/$1, valued at the previous session on Friday.

Equally at the black market, the Naira lost N4.76 against the greenback to close at N1,708.87 to the US Dollar compared to N1,704.11/$1 it closed on Friday.

The outcomes came as the weak supply gripping the marker cross paths with high seasonal demand placing pressure on the local currency.

This occurred as supply dropped further at the session as turnover published on the FMDQ Group website stood at $79.47 million indicating that the session’s turnover fell by 15.7 per cent, indicating that there was a decrease of $14.75 million compared to $94.22 million published the previous day.

With the year coming to a close, there has been a higher demand for FX but with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) limiting interventions, constraints have seen a volatile outcome for the local currency.

Equally, the domestic currency also witnessed losses against the British currency and the Euro in the week’s opening session.

On the Pound Sterling, the local currency made a loss of N3.38 to wrap the session at N2,160.63/£1 from N2,157.25/£1 that it sold at the previous session and against the Euro, the Nigerian currency closed at N1,816.40/€1 versus N1,814.79/€1, indicating an N1.61 depreciation.

The local currency also declined in its value against the British currency in the black market as it dropped by N9.63 to sell at N2,217.39/£1 compared with the preceding session’s N2,207.76/£1 and followed the same pattern against the Euro as it depreciated N10.73 to quote at N1,862.98/€1 versus the previous day’s rate of N1,852.25/€1.

The Naira, however, had a different trend against the Canadian Dollar as it appreciated by N1.66 to close at N1,222.33 per Canadian Dollar, compared to Friday’s N1,223.99 per CAD.

CBN’s limited capacity to sufficiently intervene across the market segments and suboptimal inflows from Foreign Portfolio Investors will continue to impact the trajectory of the local currency in coming weeks, analysts said.

Measures that don’t translate to more injection of FX into the pressured market will only provide temporary reprieve, they added.

Meanwhile, the CBN will soon begin to test run its automated FX platform to increase market confidence and reduce speculative trading.

Naira

Naira Appreciates to N1,666 Per Dollar at FX Market, N1,704.11 at Parallel Market

Published

3 days ago

November 2, 2024

Iyanuoluwa Martins

The Naira appreciated by 0.5 percent against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Friday following an N8.77 rise to close at N1,666.72/$1 compared with Thursday’s closing rate of N1,675.49/$1 despite worsening supply in the market.

The daily supply of FX as measured by secondary data from FMDQ Securities Exchange Limited indicated that turnover fell by $72.41 million or 43.5 per cent to $94.20 million from $166.61 million.

However, the local currency slid on the Pound Sterling and the Euro in the final session. For the British currency, the local currency depreciated by N10.10 and closed at N2,157.25/£1 from N2,147.15/£1 while it closed at the rate of N1,814.79/€1, a slump of N23.43 against N1,791.36/€1 against the Euro.

Meanwhile, the Naira rose further by N7.66 against the American in the parallel market segment to close at N1,704.11 to the US Dollar compared to N1,711.77/$1 it closed on Thursday.

Also, the domestic currency extended its gain against the British currency during the final session as the Naira made a further appreciation of N16 to trade at N2,207.76/£1 from N2,223.76/£1 that it sold at the previous session and against the Euro, it appreciated N14.82 to close at N1,852.25/€1 versus the previous day’s rate of N1,867.07/€1.

The local currency gained a marginal N1.62 to close at N1,233.99 per Canadian Dollar, compared to Thursday’s N1,235.61 per CAD.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at the recently concluded World Bank/IMF meetings held in Washington, DC last week said the foreign exchange market will not depend on the apex bank’s intervention for supply and stability.

This is evidenced by the stop of sales of Dollars to the market as it plans to improve supply organically without its intervention from time to time while maintaining balance in the market.

“While you might see us intervene from time to time, we are trying to ensure the market is not dependent on the intervention of the central bank.

“I think that we are looking at conditions that market return as much as possible to improve supply organically without the Central Bank having to put in money all the time,” the CBN deputy governor on economic policy, Mr Mohammed Abdullahi, disclosed.

Naira

Naira Loses 2.7% on Dollar at NAFEX, Gains N6 to N1,711/$1 at Parallel Market

Published

4 days ago

November 1, 2024

Iyanuoluwa Martins

The Naira fell by 2.7 percent on the US Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) to exchange at N1,675.49/$1 on Thursday, October 311 as the local currency depreciated despite a slight increase in supply.

In the official market, the domestic currency lost N44.32 on the American currency in the official market versus N1,631.17/$1, which it closed in the previous session on Wednesday.

In a turn of fortune, the Naira rose N6.66 against the greenback in the parallel market segment to close at N1,711.77 to the US Dollar compared to N1,718.43/$1 it closed on Wednesday.

Data showed a rise in supply as the turnover published on the FMDQ Group website stood at $166.61 million indicating that the session’s turnover jumped by 29.2 per cent, indicating a rise of $37.63 million compared to $128.98 million that was published in the last trading session.

Equally, the Naira weakened its value against the Pound Sterling in the official market by N3.75 to sell at N2,147.15/£1 compared with the preceding session’s N2,143.40/£1.

It followed the same path against the Euro, depreciating N9.29 to quote at N1,791.36/€1 versus midweek’s closing rate of N1,782.07/€1.

In a different outcome in the black market, the domestic currency headed up against the British currency during the Thursday session as the Naira made an appreciation of N10.86 to wrap the session at N2,223.76/£1 from N2,234.62/£1 that it sold at the previous session.

However, the Naira followed a different pattern against the Euro as it depreciated N12.51 to close at N1,867.07/€1 versus the previous day’s rate of N1,854.56/€1.

The local currency gained a marginal 9 Kobo to close at N1,235.61 per Canadian Dollar, compared to Wednesday’s N1,235.70 per CAD.

Investors King reports that the Nigerian macro environment is placing pressure on the FX market with latest data showing that there is a high money supply in the system complemented by a wider government budget deficit.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) revealed that Nigeria’s money supply often known as M3 grew 62.8 percent in the last one year to N109 trillion from N66.9 trillion in September 2023.