The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced plansto end the RT200 FX Programme and the Naira4Dollar scheme by the end of June 2023.

Ripples Nigeria reports that the RT200 FX Programme and the Naira4Dollar scheme were created to encourage the repatriation of non-oil foreign exchange proceeds into the official market.

The programmes were created by the suspended CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, but following the decision of the CBN on Thursday to free the forex market and allow buyers and sellers to negotiate rates without restriction from the apex bank, the RT200 FX Programme and the Naira4Dollar scheme became redundant.

“Cessation of R T200 Rebate Scheme and the Naira4Dollar Remittance Scheme, with effect from 30 June 2023,” CBN wrote in a circular on Wednesday.

Note that the CBN allowing the market to dictate forex rates has pushed the official market dollar rate to N664.04/$1 on Wednesday, from N471.67/$1, closing up on the black market rate of N760.3/$1.

This is expected to make the official market appealing to foreign exchange buyers again, luring them from the black market, considering the gap between both forex channels has dropped to N96.26 kobo, compared to the N288.63 gap on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the CBN has also directed the facilitation of foreign exchange by BTA/PTA and SMEs applicants through the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window, however, the applicants are expected to continue obtaining applications from the banks.

“Abolishment of segmentation. All segments are now collapsed into the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window. Applications for medicals, school fees, BTA/PTA, and SMEs would continue to be processed through deposit money banks,” CBN said in the statement.

[RippleNigeria]