Central Bank of Nigeria has concluded the payment of all verified claims by airlines with an additional $64.44 million to the affected airlines.
CBN Ag. Director of Corporate Communications, Sidi-Ali disclosed this in Abuja, on Tuesday.
Sidi-Ali said this was in fulfilment of CBN’s pledge to clear the backlog of foreign exchange owed foreign airlines in the country,
The apex bank’s spokesperson noted that the latest amount paid to the airlines brought the total verified amount paid to that sector to $136.73 million, adding that all the verified airline claims had now been cleared.
She added that CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, and his team were doubly committed and would ensure that the verified backlog of payments across all other sectors was cleared and confidence restored in the Nigerian foreign exchange market.
She further assured that the CBN was working with stakeholders to ensure liquidity improves within the forex market in order to reduce the pressure on the Naira.
While expressing optimism that the market would respond positively with the latest injection of over $64 million, she urged actors in the foreign exchange market to guard against speculation as such actions could hurt the Naira.
The CBN spokesperson appealed to the public to support the reforms in the foreign exchange market, adding that the apex bank would continue to promote orderliness and professional conduct by all participants in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market to ensure market forces determine exchange rates.