Assessing Impacts Of RT200 Programme On Fund Repatriation

The RT200 programme of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which was launched in February of 2022, has continued to make good progress in the purpose for which it was instituted as the programme has helped boost repatriation of funds into the country by 40 per cent in one year.

Challenges and prospects to success of the programme was the theme for the third edition of the Export Summit held in Lagos last week where the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) had revealed that repatriation of funds into the country had improved from $3 billion in 2021 to $5.6 billion at the end of 2022, due to the RT200 Programme.

Success of the programme started slowly with only $62 million recorded in the first quarter of 2022 which consisted of data from February when the programme started and March. By the second quarter it had risen to about $600 million and by the third quarter it had risen to over $900 million. As at the end of the first three months of 2023, available data showed that the RT200 programme had raked in $1.7 billion in exports proceeds.

The RT200 FX Programme which is targeted at raising $200 billion in Foreign Exchange (FX) earnings from Non-Oil Proceeds for the country over the next three to five years, is hinged on five key anchors namely Value-Adding Exports Facility, Non-Oil Commodities Expansion Facility, Non-Oil FX Rebate Scheme, Dedicated Non-Oil Export Terminal and Biannual Non-Oil Export Summit.

The summit brings together players in the export industry including bankers, shippers, shipping agents, exporters, the Nigerian Customs, the Nigerian Ports Authority amongst others. This is to enable the players discuss and come up with solutions to challenges that are encountered in the export sector.

Previous summits had brought out challenges that exporters face overtime and policies had been made towards addressing the challenges and one of such at the last summit hat was held last week was the decision of the CBN to begin to publish the names of beneficiaries of the RT200 rebates as well as sanctioning of shippers and shipping agents who are involved in undocumented exports in the country.

Whilst noting that, in some countries, the period of repatriation ranges from less than six months from exportation of the product and could result in prosecution if proceeds are not repatriated on time, the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele said, in Nigeria, it had become a matter of compulsion.

According to him, the apex bank, in its little way, has towed the path of encouraging, monitoring and appealing to exporters as well as local manufacturers to export and also repatriate the proceeds of their exports for the good of their company and the country in general. 

However, he said: “we keep hearing cases of people trying as much as possible to sidestep the process and all I can do now is to appeal to those of us who want to export without documentation to please try as much as possible to desist from this practice. We will continue to engage customs, we will continue to engage Nigeira Ports Authority and we will continue to engage the shipping lines and agents to ensure that we need to nip in the bud the incidences of exporting without documentation.

“What this does is reduce the export earning potentials of the country. About three years ago when we had a meeting at the CBN in Lagos with the shipping lines, I had said that the CBN will be beaming searchlight on undocumented exports and we had advised the shipping lines at that meeting that we will also be monitoring and if we find that they export without documentation we will fine them by placing their accounts on post no debit (PND).

“We have so far not done anything like that, because we feel that our shipping lines will be responsible to do what is right but if we do not see the kind of cooperation that we expect, I will have to  insist that we do what we need to do.”

Citing the examples of what is obtainable in other climes, Emefiele said: “in Ghana for example, export earnings must be repatriated to the country, at least 40 per cent of which must be converted to the domestic currency within 15 working days of repatriation. Exporters may hold the remainder in a Foreign Exchange Account (FEA).

“In India, the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act permits realisation and repatriation of the export proceeds within nine months from the date of export. For any export to a warehouse established outside India, with the permission of the Reserve Bank of India, export proceeds can be repatriated within 15 months from the date of shipment. Many countries of the world have these requirements to ensure effective export repatriation.”

Meanwhile, in response to exporters that there is need for more transparency in the process as there has been no public knowledge of those getting the rebates and how much rebate has been received, the CBN governor had announced that from this week, the list of beneficiaries of the export rebate would be published for all to see.

The Non-Oil Export proceeds repatriation rebate scheme is a major anchor of the RT200 as it is designed to incentivize exporters in the Non-Oil export sector to encourage repatriation and sale of export proceeds into the forex Market. It was borne out of the need to develop new strategies aimed at earning more stable and sustainable inflows of forex, in order to insulate the Nigerian economy from shocks and forex shortages.

Under the rebate scheme, exporters who are eligible would get a rebate of N65 for every $1 repatriated and sold at the I&E Window for other thirty party use, and N35 for every $1 repatriated and sold into !&E for own use on eligible transactions only.

However, only exporters of finished and semi-finished goods are eligible for this incentive, adding that, exporters whose proceeds are sold at the Investors’ & Exporters’ Window (I&E) would be eligible. According to the regulatory guidelines for the RT200, eligible transactions that qualify for Incentives under the Scheme shall be export of finished and semi-finished goods wholly or partly processed or manufactured in Nigeria, except otherwise stated by the CBN.