Refinery: We’ll ask Dangote to sell forex at good rates – CBN Governor

The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, stated yesterday that the Dangote refinery will be convinced to sell foreign exchange revenues to banks at a favorable rate. The Dangote Refinery is scheduled to produce its first goods in July.

At the end of the 291st Monetary Policy Committee, MPC, meeting in Abuja, Emefiele stated that his team would work with Alhaji Aliko Dangote, the refinery’s promoter, to ensure that Nigerians benefited from the venture. He also stated that the CBN, the Federal Government, and the entire nation had assisted him in setting up the refinery.

The governor of the CBN expressed confidence that the refinery would help the nation’s currency shortage, saying that by refining locally, roughly 20% of the cost of importing petroleum products could be avoided, which would eventually result in lower pricing. But he asserted that it was time to end the fuel subsidy system.

His words: “By the time the Dangote Refinery comes on stream, the price at which it (fuel) will be dispensed will be lower than what it is when we spend dollars to import because there will be no freight cost, no storage, and all other logistics expenses.
“So we will be lucky to be having about 20 percent savings from refining locally, rather than importing.

“But the important thing is that we have reached a point, whether we like it or not when we must exit subsidy.
“Dangote Refinery coming at this time gives us the confidence that even if we exit subsidy, the products will be available. And eventually, the interplay of market forces will also moderate the prices to a level that will help the country.

“So we are expecting that no doubt, by the time he produces for domestic consumption, the excess will be exported by the numbers that he talked about, which we agree with.

‘’We should be able to save, conservatively, close to about $5 billion to $10 billion in foreign exchange that will come into the country.

“Whether it comes to our reserves or not is not the point, it is the fact that the dollar is available and it will be sold in the domestic market so that customers of banks who need to import do not necessarily resort to CBN for dollars.
“They can go to their banks and Dangote will sell dollars to their banks and we are going to ensure that it is done at a good market rate.

“What I would have loved to say on Monday (at the Dangote Refinery Commissioning) which I didn’t say was that the CBN, the government, and the country have helped Dangote to set up that refinery.

“He is a Nigerian; Nigerians must benefit from that venture and we are going to engage him and talk to him and I am sure that being the richest man in Africa, he is going to throw a few crumbs so that the price will be lowered.”