Nigeria: NNPCL Secures $3 Billion Afrexim Bank Loan to Support Govt, Stabilise Forex Rates

The loan is also expected to help stabilise the foreign exchange market, enable authorities to meet forex demand, and improve the value of the Nigerian currency.

The Nigeria National Petroleum Company Ltd and Afreximbank have jointly signed a commitment letter and term sheet for an emergency $3 billion crude oil repayment loan.

A statement by the NNPCL said the signing took place Wednesday at the bank's headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.

The facility will provide some immediate disbursement that will enable NNPC Ltd to support the Federal Government in its ongoing fiscal and monetary policy reforms aimed at stabilising the exchange rate market.

The loan is also expected to help stabilise the foreign exchange market, enable authorities to meet forex demand, and improve the value of the Nigerian currency.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had in June announced the unification of all segments of the forex exchange (FX) market as part of efforts to engender transparency in the markets and boost investors' confidence.

Upon announcing the policy, for the first time in fifteen years, the naira traded at a weaker rate at the official market than in the parallel market.

Since then, the naira has continued to decline at the official market to trade at N780.00 and above the mark from N465.13 per dollar it traded in mid-May.

Similarly, at the parallel market, the local currency touched an all-time low to trade at N930.00 and above per $1.

But the naira gained marginally against the United States dollar at the unauthorised market on Tuesday, barely 24 hours after President Bola Tinubu met with the acting governor of the central bank, Folashodun Shonubi.

According to information gathered from currency traders across the country, the dollar exchanged against the local unit at N900.00 and N 925.00 as against the N935.00 to N950.00 range it traded on Monday.

Traders who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES attributed the market reaction to the President's meeting with the CBN governor on Monday.

This, they said, allayed fears among the black market traders who claimed that the government plans to address the country's currency crisis and stabilise the rate to as low as N750/$1 in the coming weeks.

"We don't know how the market will close today. We are hearing that the government wants to drop the rate to N750/$1 at the black market," a dealer at the Abuja Zone 4 axis said.

On Wednesday, reports said the dollar crashed to N910 at the parallel market amid uncertainty over the intervention efforts to stabilise the market.

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