$2.83b released to 3 sectors in two months – CBN

The Central Bank of Nigeria said on Thursday three key sectors of the
economy received the largest foreign exchange allocations between
December 2016 and January.2017
The CBN said out of a total of $2.83 billion disbursed during the two
months to critical sectors of the economy, manufacturing, agriculture
and raw materials got the lion’s shares.
CBN spokesperson, Isaac Okorafor, said these sectors were considered
by government as prime target for employment generation and wealth
creation sectors of the economy.
Mr. Okorafor said raw materials got $609 million and $228 million
allocations for December and January, while manufacturing got $53
million and $71 million respectively.
Besides, he said about $1.839 billion and $0.989 billion respectively
were utilized in critical sectors like agriculture, petroleum products
and airlines, among others in the corresponding period.
Mr. Okorafor said the CBN was determined to continue to taking steps
to ease the foreign exchange pressure on critical sectors of the
economy.
In November 2016, the CBN supported critical sectors of the economy
with about $1.07 billion equivalent of foreign exchange for
agricultural machinery, industrial raw materials, education and
personal travel allowances, to source for industrial raw materials and
spare-parts through the interbank foreign market.