Some companies including MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, BUA Foods Plc, and the Nigerian unit of Cadbury Schweppes Overseas Ltd., have announced their successful access to dollars to fulfill their foreign currency commitments.
This achievement signals a notable reversal from a prior era of greenback scarcity, which had previously hindered their capacity to repatriate profits or settle payments with overseas suppliers.
The Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to the President, Bayo Onanuga, made this known via his X handle on Wednesday, May 8.
He wrote: “MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, BUA Foods Plc and Cadbury Schweppes Overseas Ltd.’s Nigeria unit, have reported that they are now able to access dollars to meet their foreign currency obligations, a reversal of a situation where the scarcity of greenbacks left them unable to repatriate profits or pay foreign suppliers.
“MTN Nigeria, the nation’s biggest mobile operator, “utilized the improved liquidity in the foreign exchange market” to reduce letters of credit obligations by 41.6% to $243.4 million from $416.6 million in December, in a bid to curb losses, Chief Financial Officer Modupe Kadiri said at investor conference call last week.
“The Central Bank of Nigeria has since the beginning of this year introduced measures to improve liquidity, including raising its benchmark rate 600 basis points to attract capital inflows and dumping the currency’s peg to allow the market to determine the naira’s exchange rate.
“This was after years of unorthodox currency management deterred investors and caused a scarcity of the greenback.”