CBN disburses $61m to foreign airlines to settle mature foreign exchange backlog

News

January 8, 2024

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), says it has disbursed 61.64 million dollars to foreign airlines through various Deposit Money Banks (DMBs).

According to a statement issued by its Acting Director, Corporate Communications, Mrs Hakama Sidi-Ali in Abuja on Sunday, the disbursement is in fulfilment of CBN’s commitment to eliminate the backlog of pending matured foreign exchange in DMBs.

She said that in the past three months, the CBN had also redeemed outstanding forward liabilities of close to two billion dollars.

Recall that the total trapped fund of foreign airlines in the country is pegged at about 800 million dollars, which led to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) threatening that some foreign airlines may be forced to quit the Nigerian markets if nothing is done about the monies, which are majorly from ticket revenue.