Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Godwin Emefiele, on Monday, revealed that the President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has begun the repayment of some of the loans used in financing the Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals.
Emefiele in his address during the inauguration of the project in Lagos, noted that the refinery which was initially estimated to cost about $9 billion when its construction began in 2013, was completed with a total of $18.5bn with funding distributed into 50 percent equity investment and 50 percent debt finance.
The apex bank boss noted that the commercial loan component of the project was financed majorly by domestic banks with the balance sourced from foreign banks.
He added that the CBN provided about N125 billion to cover domestic currency requirements for the venture.
Emefiele said, “What you may not be fully aware of, Your Excellencies, is that the Dangote Group has started repaying some of the commercial loans even before the commissioning of this facility. This reflects the commercial capability of the Group and its Chairman. I am pleased to inform everyone today that, following extensive repayments, outstanding debt has dropped appreciably from over US$9 billion to US$3 billion.
“I must at this juncture appreciate all the participating local Nigerian banks, who did not only partner with the project through effective financing but were keenly aware of the importance of the project for our nation. They provided immense support and exceptional understanding, even when interest payments and principal repayment had fallen due.”
Dangote refinery has the capacity to process 650,000 barrels of crude oil per day. It is the largest single-train refinery in the world.
With such processing capacity, the refinery can easily meet all of Nigeria’s domestic fuel consumption of about 450,000 barrels per day and export the excess production.
