CBN starts to resolve $10bn forex demand backlog

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has begun to address the huge backlog of foreign exchange (forex) requests from commercial banks and airline operators, according to sources.

A source from a leading Nigerian commercial bank, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed this on Thursday.

He said, “The CBN started paying our bank’s forex backlog yesterday”.

A report by Nairametrics also stated that airlines are receiving their forex payments from the CBN.

The report quoted Stanbic IBTC as saying, “The CBN started clearing the outstanding retail SMIS obligations yesterday (Wednesday). The total amount cleared is still unknown.”

This development comes a day after the chairman of Air Peace claimed that his company is owed $24 million by the CBN, six months after making the forex request amid the forex crisis.