By Dayo Omoogun
Rising from an extra-ordinary meeting held in Lagos on Saturday, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Bankers Committee have pledged funding support both in local and foreign currencies to pharmaceutical companies in the country in order to boost local drugs production.
The recent intervention measures of the apex bank also got the applause and full support of the Bankers Committee.
“The Bankers’ Committee also gave its full support to the policy measures amounting to over N3.5 Trillion earlier announced by the CBN in response to the economic impact of the COVID-19 on Nigeria.”
The communique read at the end of the meeting listed the following companies among those to benefit from the grants: “Emzor, Fidson, GSK, May & Baker, Unique Pharma, Swiss Pharma, Neimeth, Sagar, Orange Drugs, and Dana Pharma”.
According to Mr. Emefiele the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, who read the communique, “the CBN and the Bankers’ Committee had resolved at this time to collaborate with one coherent strategy to provide confidence to the customers, counter parties, the public and ultimately putting Nigeria first.”
To this end, according to the bank’s statement, “engagements will be held with correspondent banks, trade creditors, trading partners regarding existing letters of credit and trade commitments, the CBN Governor assured that the industry was committed to resolving all existing commitments in a comprehensive and orderly way.”
Emefiele stressed that profit is not the driving force behind these interventions “Rather, preserving confidence, financial stability and support for the economy will be the overriding objectives,” he said.
The communique also advised Nigerians to prioritize their foreign exchange needs and focusing on sourcing their raw materials and inputs locally.
The apex bank is also working to shore up its foreign exchange stock.
“To improve foreign exchange supply to the CBN, the Bank directed all international and domestic oil companies and related companies such as oil servicing companies to sell foreign exchange to the CBN and no longer the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).”